On  the  Coast  of  France 


UC-NRLF 


Joseph  Husbsmd 


$B    7ME    fl35 


ON  THE  COAST  OF  FRANCE 


Vice-Admiral  Henry  B.  Wilson,  U.   S.  N. 
Commander  United   States  Naval   Forces  in  France 


On  the  Coast  of  France 

The  Story  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Forces  in  French   Waters 


BY 

JOSEPH   HUSBAND 

Ensign,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F. 


WITH       PREFACE"  BY 

FRANKLIN  D.  ROOSEVELT 

Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 


ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM  PHOTOGRAPHS 


CHICAGO 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1919 


US 


"ifw 


Copyright 
A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1919 


Published,  May  19X9 


W.  r.  HALL  PRINTING  COMPANY,  CHICASO 


Wo 

Vice-Admiral  H.  B.  Wilson,  U.  S.  N. 

By  whose  fine  professional  ability  a 
great  work  was  splendidly  accom- 
plished, and  by  whose  rare  personal- 
ity the  bond  between  two  sister  repub- 
lics was  the  more  firmly  established 

—  Joseph  Husband 


441051 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     First  Months  of  the  War i 

II     Building  the   Machine  ~ 24 

III  In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine     ....  37 

IV  The  Converted  Yachts 59 

V     The   Destroyers 83 

VI     Other  Activities 108 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Vice-Admlral  Henry  B.  Wilson,   JJ.  S.  N.     . 

Frontispiece 

U.   S.  S.  Noma 6 

U.  S.  S.   Christahel 6 

U.  S.  S.  Rambler 7 

U.   S.  S.  Wanderer 7 

Brest.    The  old  chateau  and  a  bit  of  the  harbor  14 

The  landing  at  Brest 15 

The  Leviathan 22 

Troop   ship   at   Brest 22 

A  French  dirigible 23 

German  sea  mines 23 

A  sea  plane  makes  a  bad  dive 30 

The  destroyer  Monaghan 30 

The  hammer-head  bow  of  a  destroyer     ...31 

Depth  charges  on  the  stern  of  a  destroyer     .  31 

Destroyers  waiting  for  an  incoming  convoy     .  38 
Troop  ship  escorted  by  a  destroyer  and  two  sea 

planes 38 

Observation  balloon  on   a   destroyer     ...  39 

The  balloon  going  up 39 

The  British  mystery  ship  Dunraven     ...  46 

The  Dunraven  sinking 46 

The  Philomel  (British)  after  being  torpedoed  47 

The  last  of  the  Philomel 47 

ix 


Illustrations 


PAGE 


The  Mount  Vernon  showing  hole  torn  in  her 

side  by  a  torpedo 54 

The  bow  of  the  von  Steuben  after  collision  with 

the  Agamemnon 55 

''Y"  gun 62 

Dropping  a  depth  charge 6^^ 

The  detonation  of  a  depth  charge  ....  63 
Picking  up  a  lifeboat  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  .  .  76 
Picking  up  a  lifeboat  from  a  torpedoed  ship  .  77 
The  Westward  Ho  being  towed  into  Brest  .  77 
Rough  weather  on  the  destroyer  Benham  .  .  84 
Torpedo  tubes  on  destroyer  Benham  ...  85 
Four-inch  gun  crew  on  destroyer  Benham  .  .  85 
Where  the  destroyer  Jarvis  rammed  the  de- 
stroyer Benham 94 

The  bow  of  the  Jarvis  after  her  collision  with 

the  Benham   .     . 94 

The  side  of  the  Benham  after  being  rammed  95 
Another  view  of  the  Jarvis  after  collision  with 

the  Benham 95 

The  explosion  of  the  Florence  H 102 

Thornycroft  depth-charge  thrower     .     .      .     .103 
Destroyers  alongside  the  Bridgeport  at  Brest  .  no 
Another  view  of  the  destroyers  showing  camou- 
flage       no 

Looking  forward  on  a  "flush  deck"  destroyer  in 
Looking  aft  on  a  "  flush  deck  "  destroyer     .     .111 

The  flag  that  flew 120 

Group  of  French  and  American  naval  officers  .  121 


INTRODUCTION 

NEVER  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  sea 
power  played  so  vital  a  part  in  the  win- 
ning of  a  war;  and  never,  in  proportion  to  the 
magnitude  of  the  forces  and  operations  involved, 
has  the  Navy  played  a  part  in  which  its  prover- 
bial silence  has  been  as  marked  as  in  the  activities 
which  terminated  on  November  ii,  1918,  with 
the  armistice  between  the  Allied  and  the  Central 
Powers. 

The  war  in  its  naval  aspects,  has  been  a  war 
of  negative  action;  a  series  of  checkmates,  by 
which  the  Allied  navies  secured  the  seas  from 
the  interference  of  the  grand  fleets  and  raiding 
squadrons  of  the  enemy.  But  in  this  war  the 
submarine,  a  new  weapon  of  offensive  warfare, 
imposed  new  conditions.  Relatively  secure  in 
its  operations   from   the  larger  vessels  of  the 


xii  Introduction 


Allied  navies,  which  themselves  were  in  many 
instances  its  ready  prey,  the  submarine  directed 
its  activities  against  the  troop  and  store  ships  by 
which  alone  the  men  and  means  to  prosecute  the 
war  were  made  possible. 

To  meet  the  preying  warfare  of  the  submarine, 
the  smaller  and  faster  vessels  of  our  Navy  were 
required  in  European  waters,  to  assure  the  safe 
and  uninterrupted  passage  of  our  '^  bridge  of 
ships."  It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  narrative  to 
deal  with  the  operations  of  the  United  States 
Naval  Forces  in  English  waters  or  in  the  Med- 
iterranean. In  the  north,  the  concerted  action 
with  the  British  Navy,  and  in  the  south  the  co- 
operation with  the  navies  of  France  and  Italy 
developed  operations  of  which  it  is  impossible 
at  this  early  date  to  secure  even  casual  data. 

Of  the  activities  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Forces  in  France,  it  is  possible,  however,  to  ob- 
tain more  definite  information,  due  primarily  to 
the  fact  that  these  operations  were  more  sharply 
defined  and  more  distinctly  our  own.  To  keep 
open  the  western  coast  of  France  was  a  task  of 
the  most  vital  importance,  involving  a  large  and 


Introduction  xiii 


capable  organization  and  the  utmost  secrecy  of 
operation. 

Due  to  this  necessity  for  secrecy,  little  has  been 
known  of  the  work  of  our  Navy  on  the  French 
coast.  To  the  majority  of  the  American  people 
our  men  and  stores  have  been  transported  with 
a  miraculous  freedom  from  disaster,  but  the 
means  by  which  this  security  has  been  attained 
have  been  unknown. 

In  no  sense  is  this  volume  offered  as  a  history 
of  the  United  States  Naval  Forces  in  France,  for 
a  historic  record  of  those  splendid  activities 
would  require  a  study  of  the  complete  operations 
which  is  at  the  present  time  impossible.  Rather, 
it  is  the  present  purpose  to  afford,  by  a  few  side 
lights  on  these  activities  of  sixteen  months,  a  gen- 
eral view  of  the  field  and  an  impression  of  the 
nature  of  the  work  involved.  By  these,  our  most 
recent  operations  in  the  world's  most  historic 
waters,  the  forces  of  the  Navy  not  only  secured 
the  desired  safe  passage  of  our  troop  and  store 
ships  but  by  their  cooperation  with  the  French 
Naval  Forces  and  their  association  with  the 
people  of  the  French  nation,  on  land  as  on  the 


xiv  Introduction 


sea,  established  a  sentiment  of  mutual  affection 
and  esteem  more  permanent  than  can  be  obtained 
by  treaties  or  the  written  word. 

More  than  the  United  States  can  ever  realize, 
does  it  owe  to  those  who  directed  our  naval 
operations  in  French  waters,  a  gratitude  for  past 
performance  and  for  future  promise. 

Brest,  France,  December  2,  iQi8. 


PREFACE 

By  Franklin  D.  Roosevelt 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 

THE  Navy  was  known  during  the  war  as 
the  "  Silent  Service."  Little  appeared  in 
official  dispatches  or  in  the  public  press  regard- 
ing the  operations  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Forces  either  in  Europe  or  on  our  own  coast. 
In  fact,  in  only  a  handful  of  instances,  where  a 
transport  was  torpedoed  or  where  an  enemy  sub- 
marine was  definitely  accounted  for,  was  any 
mention  made  of  our  naval  work.  Generally 
speaking,  the  people  at  home  knew  only  that 
their  Navy  was  successfully  manning  the  trans- 
ports and  escorting  the  troops,  munitions,  and 
supplies  in  safety  to  the  shores  of  France. 

How  very  much  more  these  operations  in- 
volved is  only  now  coming  out.  On  our  entrance 
into  the  Great  War  in  the  spring  of  1917,  steps 
were  immediately  taken  by  the  Navy  Depart- 

XV 


xvi  Preface 


ment  to  build  up  an  organization  to  be  based  on 
the  French  coast,  primarily  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  the  famous  "  Neck  of  the  Bottle  "  as  free 
as  possible  from  German  submarines.  The  dis- 
tance from  Bordeaux  to  Brest  is  a  comparatively 
small  one,  and  almost  every  ship  entering  the 
French  ports  from  the  United  States  had,  of  ne- 
cessity, to  pass  through  a  narrow  strip  of  sea. 
This  small  area  had  proved  a  famous  hunting- 
ground  for  enemy  submarines,  and  it  became 
our  obvious  task  to  send  over  every  possible 
means  of  assistance  to  work  with  the  French 
Navy. 

The  story  of  what  our  officers  and  men  did  in 
those  early  days  is  the  best  illustration  of  the  all- 
round  efficiency  of  the  Navy.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  officers  and  men  came  from  civil 
life,  but  were  quickly  and  successfully  indoctri- 
nated into  their  naval  duties  by  the  regular  offi- 
cers of  the  service.  The  tools  with  which  they 
had  to  work  were,  in  large  part,  makeshift. 
Yachts  were  hurriedly  converted  to  naval  pur- 
poses; all  kinds  of  equipment  was  taken  over  for 
possible  use  in  France.    From  small  beginnings 


Preface  xvii 

the  organization  grew  until  by  the  summer  of 
19 1 8  the  whole  western  coast  of  France  was 
guarded  by  a  string  of  surface  vessels  and  air- 
craft. 

Not  only  was  the  ''Neck  of  the  Bottle"  made 
safe  for  our  troop  and  supply  ships,  but  the  op- 
erations were  extended  from  the  defensive  type 
to  the  offensive,  and  the  very  existence  of  enemy 
submarines  was  rendered  extremely  unhealthy 
long  before  the  armistice  came. 

To  the  men  who  took  part  in  this  great  work 
too  much  credit  cannot  be  given.  Extraordi- 
nary physical  endurance  was  called  for,  and 
more  than  that,  imagination  and  a  genius  to  meet 
new  conditions  with  untried  weapons  was  essen- 
tial to  success. 

During  the  summer  of  1918  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  visiting  these  French  bases  and  of  seeing 
the  work  at  first  hand.  No  part  of  our  naval 
activities  deserves  higher  credit  than  the  part 
they  took.  They  have  the  satisfaction,  at  least, 
of  knowing  that  the  Navy  and  the  country  are 
proud  of  them. 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  25,  IQIQ- 


On  the  Coast  of  France 


CHAPTER  I 

FIRST  MONTHS  OF  THE  WAR 

WITH  the  entry  of  the  United  States  into 
the  war  with  Germany  and  the  Central 
Powers,  arose  the  immediate  necessity  of  naval 
participation  and  cooperation  with  the  fleets  of 
the  Allied  nations.  Never  in  the  world's  history 
had  been  furnished  an  example  so  complete  and 
so  convincing  of  the  vital  necessity  of  adequate 
sea  power  to  secure  the  desired  victory  over  the 
common  foe.  For  three  years  the  great  fleets  of 
England  had  been  holding  in  leash  the  German 
Navy,  but  despite  the  assurance  which  England's 
fleet  had  given  for  the  protection  of  the  seas 
from  the  German  High  Sea  Fleet,  other  grave 
dangers  were  clearly  existent.  In  the  Channel, 
on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland,  along  the  French 


On  the  Coast  of  France 


coast  and  in  the  Mediterranean,  the  German  and 
Austrian  submarines  were  waging  a  successful 
warfare  against  the  Allied  shipping.  To  hold 
in  port  the  powerful  Navy  of  Germany,  the 
Grand  Fleet  of  England  was  chained  to  its 
guardianship  of  the  Helgoland  gates,  and  on  a 
similar  duty  the  French  fleet  watched  the  har- 
bors and  naval  bases  of  Austria  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

The  entry  of  the  United  States  into  the  war, 
created  new  problems  which  it  alone  must  solve; 
problems  of  transportation  of  troops  and  sup- 
plies to  the  practically  unprotected  ports  of  west- 
ern France. 

Tied  hand  and  foot  were  the  fleets  of  the  Al- 
lies. Not  only  did  it  devolve  upon  us  to  deliver 
an  army  on  French  soil  and  the  necessary  stores 
required  by  these  hundreds  of  thousands  of  fight- 
ing men ;  but  it  also  became  necessary  for  us  in 
large  measure,  to  protect  the  passage  and  arrival 
of  the  vessels  required  for  troop  and  store  trans- 
ports. 

From  Calais  the  French  coast  slips  in  a  south- 
westerly direction,  embracing  in  its  rugged  coast 


First  Months  of  the  War 


line  the  ports  of  Boulogne,  Le  Havre  and  Cher- 
bourg, to  the  rocky  point  of  Finistere  where  in  a 
great  sheltered  harbor,  at  its  western  extremity, 
rests  the  city  of  Brest,  greatest  of  all  French  sea- 
ports from  the  aspects  of  naval  strategy.  From 
Brest,  the  coast  runs  southeasterly  to  the  Spanish 
line,  including,  from  north  to  south,  the  harbors 
of  Lorient,  Quiberon  Bay,  Saint-Nazaire,  La 
Rochelle,  Rochefort,  the  Gironde  River  and 
Bordeaux,  the  Adour  River  and  Bayonne  and 
the  little  southern  fishing  port  of  Saint-Jean  de 
Luz  almost  in  the  shadow  of  the  Pyrenees.  Of 
these  ports,  Brest,  Lorient,  Saint-Nazaire  and 
the  Gironde  offered  the  best  facilities  for  the  re- 
ception of  troops  and  stores ;  and  it  was  here  that 
the  preliminary  steps  were  taken  to  prepare  for 
their  arrival.  But  the  great  work  of  the  Navy 
was  apparently  to  be  not  on  French  soil  or  on  the 
wide  Atlantic,  but  particularly  in  the  submarine 
danger  zone  which  naturally  centered  at  those 
points  on  the  French  coast  where  the  greatest 
number  of  transatlantic  lanes  converged;  in 
other  words,  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay  at  Brest,  and  in 
the  Channel. 


On  the  Coast  of  France 


To  understand  more  clearly  the  nature  of  the 
convoy  work,  it  may  be  divided  into  two  general 
classes : 

First,  the  escorting  into  and  out  of  port 
through  the  danger  zone  of  the  transatlantic  con- 
voys; and,  second,  the  escorting  of  the  coastal 
convoys  from  port  to  port.  The  mission  of  the 
United  States  Naval  Forces  in  France  may  thus 
be  crystallized  into  the  following  sentence :  *^  To 
safeguard  United  States  troop  and  store  ships 
and  to  cooperate  with  the  French  naval  authori- 
ties." 

Granted,  therefore,  the  hypothesis  that  with 
a  limited  number  of  ports  of  arrival  in  France 
the  enemy  submarines  would  have  only  to  watch 
the  immediate  approaches  to  these  ports,  the 
problem  became  simplified  and  the  work  re- 
solved itself  into  a  system  of  convoys,  both 
coastal  and  deep  sea,  so  thorough  in  its  char- 
acter, that  the  submarines  would  be  forced  from 
the  entrances  of  the  harbors  and  be  compelled  to 
wait  for  the  convoys  at  a  considerable  distance 
off  the  coast  and  in  the  open  sea  where  the  chance 
of  meeting  was  materially  reduced  and  where 


First  Months  of  the  War 


the    attendant    dangers    and    hardships    were 
greatly  increased. 

On  the  entire  western  coast  of  France  and  in 
the  Channel,  German  submarines  were  particu- 
larly active;  it  was  but  logical  to  calculate  that 
this  activity  would  increase  as  the  volume  of 
American  shipping  was  augmented.  To  meet 
this  submarine  blockade  and  carry  against  it  a 
successful  warfare,  was  especially  required  a 
type  of  small  and  swift  vessels  capable  of  mount- 
ing guns  of  intermediate  caliber  and  of  being 
rapidly  maneuvered  and,  at  the  same  time,  pos- 
sessing sufficient  seaworthy  qualities  to  with- 
stand the  strains  of  continuous  service  in  waters 
notoriously  tempestuous.  For  this  work  the  de- 
stroyer was  unquestionably  the  ideal  type,  but 
as  the  few  destroyers  available  had  been  sent  to 
English  waters,  the  yachts  were  taken  over  and 
converted  as  far  as  possible  to  meet  the  require- 
ments. Later,  by  the  addition  of  a  number  of 
destroyers,  it  was  planned  to  provide  a  force  of 
sufficient  strength  and  mobility  to  offset  the  sub- 
marine activities  and  assure  the  safety  required 
to  place  our  troops  and  stores  on  French  soil.  To 


On  the  Coast  of  France 


cooperate  with  the  United  States'  Naval  Forces, 
the  French  Navy  afforded  a  number  of  small 
destroyers  and  fast  patrol  boats,  suitably  armed 
and  familiar  with  the  waters  in  which  the  major 
operations  would  necessarily  take  place.  In  ad- 
dition, the  French  naval  establishment  possessed 
adequate  and  most  excellent  mine-sweeping  fa- 
cilities and  also  a  limited  force  of  hydroplanes 
and  dirigibles  for  cooperation  with  the  patrol 
and  escort  vessels. 

It  is  appropriate  to  recall  at  the  beginning 
of  this  narrative  of  our  latest  naval  achievements 
that  it  was  in  these  same  historic  French  waters, 
that  our  Navy  found  its  birth,  and  that  in 
Quiberon  Bay  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  flying  from 
the  U.  S.  S.  Ranger  of  John  Paul  Jones,  received 
its  first  salute  from  a  foreign  nation  when  the 
guns  of  the  fleet  of  the  French  Admiral  le 
Motte,  thundered  a  welcome  to  this  new-born 
ensign  of  the  new-born  nation  across  the  sea. 

On  June  4,  1917,  a  small  fleet  of  six  yachts  left 
the  New  York  Navy  Yard  and  steamed  slowly 
down  the  stream.  This  force,  a  handful  of  con- 
verted pleasure  vessels,  bore  the  official  designa- 


U.   S.   S.   NOMA 


U.  S.  S.  CHRTSTABEL 
The    smallest    and    oldest    ship    in    foreign    service.     The    white 
star  on  the  stack  means   official  credit  for  a   submarine 


U.    S.    S.    RAMBLER 


U.    S.    S.   WANDERER 


First  Months  of  the  War 


tion  of  the  U.  S.  Patrol  Squadrons  Operating 
in  European  Waters  and  constituted  the  first 
American  naval  participation  in  the  Great  War, 
actually  to  be  established  in  French  waters.  The 
yachts  were : 

U.  S.  S.  Kanawha  U.  S.  S.  Vedette 

U.  S.  S.  Noma  U.  S.  S.  Christabel 

U.  S.  S.  Harvard  U.  S.  S.  Sultana 

and  also  included  in  this  force,  but  temporarily 
under  the  orders  of  Rear- Admiral  Gleaves,  were 
the  U.  S.  S.  Corsair  and  the  U.  S.  S.  Aphrodite. 
For  over  a  month  work  had  been  pushed  to  the 
utmost  to  prepare  the  yachts  for  foreign  service. 
Furnishings  and  decorations  of  peaceful  days 
were  removed  and  stored  in  Brooklyn  ware- 
houses. White  sides  and  glittering  brightwork 
were  hidden  under  coats  of  battle  gray.  Fore 
and  aft,  three-inch  guns  were  mounted,  and  gyns 
of  smaller  caliber  were  located  on  the  upper 
decks.  Cutlasses  and  rifles  lined  bulkheads  of 
panelled  oak  or  mahogany.  Everywhere  about 
the  ships  improvised  quarters,  in  former  smok- 
ing-rooms,   libraries    and    sun-parlors,    housed 


8  On  the  Coast  of  France 

crews  expanded  by  war-time  necessity  to  four  or 
five  times  the  original  quota  required  to  operate 
the  yachts  in  time  of  peace. 

The  six  yachts  anchored  until  the  morning  of 
June  9  off  Tompkinsville,  S.  I.,  New  York,  and 
at  5  :  30  A.M.  stood  out  to  sea  at  a  standard  speed 
of  ten  knots,  enroute  to  Bermuda.  On  the 
twelfth  of  June,  the  force  arrived  at  St.  George's 
Bay,  coaled;  on  the  sixteenth  again  got  under 
way  and  shaped  a  course  for  the  Azores. 

The  yachts  arrived  at  Brest,  France,  on  the 
fourth  of  July,  after  a  relatively  uneventful 
voyage,  where  they  found  the  Corsair  and  the 
Aphrodite,  which  had  arrived  ahead  of  them 
due  to  their  greater  size  which  enabled  them  to 
lay  a  direct  transatlantic  course.  On  July  14, 
1917,  the  squadron  commander,  Captain  W.  B. 
Fletcher,  U.  S.  N.,  with  his  staff,  secured  quar- 
ters on  shore  and  began  the  first  actual  active  co- 
operation with  the  French  Navy  against  the 
enemy  submarines.  It  is  of  historical  interest  to 
note  that  a  few  hours  before  entering  the  harbor, 
the  Noma  sighted  a  periscope.  A  few  hours 
later,  the  S.  S.  Orleans  was  torpedoed,  probably 


First  Months  of  the  War 


by  the  same  submarine  which  the  Noma  sighted, 
and  her  thirty-seven  survivors  of  the  crew  and 
the  thirteen  members  of  the  United  States  naval 
armed  guard  were  brought  into  Brest  by  the 
Sultana. 

During  the  month  of  July,  the  yachts  received 
a  strenuous  introduction  to  the  patrol  duty, 
which  consisted  of  a  constant  patrol  of  defined 
areas  of  water,  so  continuous  and  so  thorough 
that  the  submarine  activities,  hitherto  in  a  large 
measure  undisputed,  were  materially  hampered 
and  the  safety  of  the  convoys  passing  through 
these  waters  was  proportionately  increased.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  August,  the 
U.  S.  S.  Guinevere  and  the  U.  S.  S.  Carola  IV,  of 
the  Second  Squadron  of  converted  yachts,  ar- 
rived at  Brest,  and  on  the  thirtieth,  Commander 
F.  N.  Freeman,  U.  S.  N.,  with  the  yachts  U.  S.  S. 
Alcedo,  U.  S.  S.  Wanderer,  U.  S.  S.  Remlik, 
U.  S.  S.  Coronaj  and  U.  S.  S.  Emeline  came  into 
the  harbor,  delayed  by  storms  and  with  badly 
leaking  decks. 

Due  to  the  unusually  fantastic  scheme  of 
camouflage  which  disguised  the  ships  of  the  Sec- 


lO  On  the  Coast  of  France 

ond  Squadron,  these  yachts  were  commonly 
known  as  the  ''  Easter  Egg  Fleet/'  every  conceiv- 
able color  having  been  incorporated  in  a  riotous 
speckled  pattern  on  their  sides/ 

On  the  fifteenth  of  August,  the  Noma  reported 
the  first  actual  engagement  with  any  enemy  sub- 
marine as  follows:  ''At  2:  17  P.M.  in  position 
Lat.  47°  40'  N.  Long.  5°  05'  W.  sighted  a  sus- 
picious object  bearing  about  245°  (per  standard 
compass),  distance  about  6,000  yards.  Object 
was  made  out  to  be  a  submarine  on  the  surface 
heading  about  320°  psc.  A  discharge  was  being 
emitted  by  the  submarine,  very  much  like  smoke 
and  was  very  misleading.  Submarine  was  evi- 
dently charging  her  batteries.  At  2:20  P.M. 
went  to  "  general  quarters "  and  closed  in  on  sub- 
marine. At  2:24  P.M.  opened  fire  with  port 
battery,  distance  about  4,000  yards.  Fired  ten 
shots.    Submarine  fired  three  shots  at  this  ship, 

lU.S.S.  Corsair  — Lieut.  Com.  T.  A.  Kittinger,  U.S.N.  U.S.S. 
Aphrodite —Lieut.  Com.  R.  P.  Craft,  U.S.N.  U.S.S.  Noma  — 
lieut  Com.  L.  R.  Leahy,  U.S.N.  U.S.S.  Kanawha  — Lieut.  Com. 
H.  D.  Cooke,  U.S.N.  U.S.S.  FedetU  — Lieut.  Com.  C.  L.  Hand, 
U.S.N.  U.S.S.  Christab el— Lieutenant  H.  B.  Riebe,  U.S.N.  U.S.S. 
Harvard— Lieutenant  A.  G.  Stirling,  U.S.N,  U.S.S.  Sultana  — 
Lieutenant  E.  G.  Allen,  U.S.N.  Captain  William  B.  Fletcher, 
U.S.N.,  squadron  commander. 


First  Months  of  the  War  II 

one  striking  about  500  yards  ahead  of  the  ship 
and  the  other  two  shots  well  over  and  on  the 
quarter.  At  2:27  P.M.  the  submarine  sub- 
merged. Proceeded  to  vicinity  of  submarine, 
but  did  not  see  her  again.  At  2:35  P.M.  re- 
sumed our  course." 

Although  the  foregoing  was  the  first  actual 
engagement,  the  Noma  on  August  8,  in  response 
to  an  S.  O.  S.  call,  joined  the  S.  S.  Dunraven, 
which  was  badly  disabled  by  gunfire  from  a  sub- 
marine. This  ship  had  been  shelled  from  astern 
by  the  submarine,  one  shell  having  exploded  in 
the  after  magazine  and  disabled  the  steering 
gear.  Soon  after,  the  submarine  approached 
closer  to  the  Dunraven  and  fired  a  torpedo.  The 
submarine  was  in  this  position  when  the  Noma 
came  up  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  torpedoed 
vessel.  Two  depth  charges  were  dropped  by  the 
Noma  on  the  spot  where  the  submarine  sub- 
merged, but  these  being  of  the  early  type,  failed 
to  detonate. 

The  next  squadron  of  the  patrol  force,  Captain 
T.  P.  Magruder,  U.  S.  N.,  in  command,  reached 
Brest  on  the  afternoon  of  September  18,  and  con- 


12  On  the  Coast  of  France 

sisted  of  the  yacht  U.  S.  S.  Wakiva,  the  supply 
ship  U.  S.  S.  Bath,  and  the  trawlers  U.  S.  S. 
Anderton,  U.  S.  S.  Lewes,  U.  S.  S.  Courtney, 
U.  S.  S.  McNeal,  U.  S.  S.  Cahill,  U.  S.  S.  James, 
U.  S.  S.  Rehoboth,  U.  S.  S.  Douglas,  U.  S.  S. 
Hinton,  and  U.  S.  S.  Bauman.  With  these  also 
arrived  six  no-foot  patrol  vessels,  under  the 
French  flag.  Due  to  the  construction  of  the 
trawlers,  which  was  soon  proved  to  be  entirely 
unsuited  for  the  hard  sea  service  required,  they 
were  withdrawn  after  a  few  weeks  from  escort 
duty  and  fitted  for  mine-sweeping. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  United 
States  armed  transport  Antilles  in  convoy  with  a 
group  of  three  transports  and  store  ships  and 
escorted  by  the  Corsair,  Alcedo,  and  Kanawha, 
was  torpedoed  and  sunk,  on  the  seventeenth  of 
October,  outside  of  Quiberon  Bay.  No  sign  of 
a  submarine  was  seen.  The  total  number  of 
persons  on  board  the  Antilles  was  237,  of  whom 
167  were  rescued  by  the  escorting  yachts. 

During  the  month  of  October,  1917,  the  coal- 
burning  destroyers  U.  S.  S.  Smith,  U.  S.  S. 
Preston,  U.  S.  S.  Lamson,  U.  S.  S.  Flusser,  and 


First  Months  of  the  War  13 

U.  S.  S.  Reid,  arrived  from  Queenstown  where 
they  had  been  receiving  training.  They  were 
accompanied  by  the  U.  S.  S.  Panther,  a  supply 
ship,  which  had  acquired  historical  interest  as  a 
transport  in  1898  during  the  war  with  Spain. 
The  addition  of  this  small  destroyer  flotilla  was 
of  inestimable  value,  for  the  yachts,  until  this 
time,  had  been  required  to  perform  the  entire 
patrol  and  escort  duty,  including  the  deep-sea 
troop  convoys  for  which  they  were  structurally 
wholly  unsuited  and  inadequate. 

It  is  interesting  to  imagine  the  hopes  and  fears 
of  those  early  days  of  our  participation.  In  the 
ancient  port  of  Brest  but  a  few  remnants  of  the 
French  fleet  remained.  The  streets  of  the  gray 
town  were  deserted.  Gone  were  the  seamen  that 
for  centuries  had  given  it  its  glory;  gone  too 
were  the  young  men,  now  fighting  and  dying 
on  the  northern  lines  of  France.  Small  indeed 
must  have  seemed  these  first  contributions  from 
the  great  ally  beyond  the  Atlantic.  A  few  con- 
verted yachts,  a  few  destroyers;  that  was  all. 
And  yet,  within  the  brief  span  of  a  year  this 
almost  deserted  harbor  was  to  become  dense  with 


14  On  the  Coast  of  France 

shipping.  Great  transports  were  to  swing  at 
moorings  beyond  the  breakwater.  Wasplike  de- 
stroyers were  to  ride  at  their  buoys  in  the  inner 
harbor  in  rapidly  increasing  numbers.  Khaki- 
clad  soldiers  by  the  hundred  thousand  were  to 
look  upon  the  gray  town  and  pass  on  to  their 
duty  in  the  north.  And  from  nothing,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  United  States  Naval  Forces 
in  France  was  to  expand,  with  characteristic 
American  enterprise,  into  a  vast  coherent  or- 
ganization, embracing  in  its  manifold  ramifica- 
tions the  complete  machinery  for  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  the  tremendous  work  in 
hand. 

The  first  six  months  of  our  activities  on  the 
French  coast  were  in  a  large  part  a  period  of 
experiment.  The  force  was  entirely  inadequate; 
the  ships  soon  proved  unsuited  for  the  work  re- 
quired and  the  officers  and  men  of  the  reserve 
force  were  new  to  the  work.  There  has  been 
little  glory  credited  to  the  work  that  was  per- 
formed, for  it  was  at  no  time  a  kind  of  work 
with  which  glory  associates  most  freely.  Here 
was    drudgery    and    danger;    a    silent    service 


The    landing    at    Brest 


First  Months  of  the  War  15 

secretly  to  be  performed.  It  was  work  for  which 
a  destroyer  flotilla  of  the  largest  and  fastest  ves- 
sels would  have  been  none  too  good.  But  such 
vessels  were  not  available.  The  yachts  were 
sent.  As  months  passed  by  came  slowly  the  coal- 
burning  destroyers.  Later  came  the  great  oil 
burners,  and  the  yachts  disappeared  into  the 
obscurity  of  hazardous  coastal  convoys  and  the 
deep-sea  convoys  of  merchantmen  in  the  rough 
waters  of  Biscay. 

On  October  21,  1917,  Captain  Fletcher  was 
detached,  and  shortly  after,  Rear-Admiral 
Henry  B.  Wilson  arrived  to  take  up  the  com- 
mand. To  Captain  Fletcher  should  be  given 
the  credit  for  the  inception  and  early  organiza- 
tion of  our  naval  forces  on  the  French  coast, 
credit  which  alone  can  offset  the  trials  and  dis- 
appointments of  those  early  days.  With  the  ar- 
rival of  Rear-Admiral  Wilson  began  the  second 
and  final  period;  a  period  of  constant  organiza- 
tion and  amplification.  Fortunately  endowed 
in  generous  measure  with  those  executive  qu^ali- 
ties  characteristic  of  an  American  naval  officer, 
Admiral  Wilson  was  still  further  happy  in  the 


i6  On  the  Coast  of  France 

possession  of  a  diplomatic  nature  and  keen  sym- 
pathy with  the  French  people.  With  the  limited 
tools  available,  he  planned  and  executed  a  pro- 
gram which  proved  itself  in  its  attainment  of  the 
desired  end.  And,  as  the  means  for  prosecuting 
his  purpose  were  increased,  he  developed  his 
plans  the  further  to  assure  their  more  perfect 
accomplishment. 

On  November  27,  19 17,  the  destroyers  U.  S.  S. 
Roe  and  U.  S.  S.  Monaghan  arrived  at  Brest 
from  Saint-Nazaire.  Utilized  previously  for 
deep-sea  escort  duty  from  the  United  States  they 
had  never  before  touched  at  a  French  port,  turn- 
ing always  in  mid-Atlantic  and  returning  to  the 
United  States.  On  this  occasion,  however,  they 
had  been  assigned  to  escort  the  U.  S.  S.  San 
Diego,  on  which  Secretary  of  War  Baker  made 
passage  to  France,  and  arriving  at  Saint- 
Nazaire,  found  it  necessary  to  proceed  north  to 
'Brest  for  coal.  As  this  duty  was  unforeseen, 
they  were  without  coastal  charts  and  proceeded 
to  explore  their  way  through  the  perilous  mine 
and  submarine  zones  with  a  large  ocean  chart  as 
their  only  guide.     Ignorant  of  the  coast,  they 


First  Months  of  the  War  17 

first  explored  the  Bay  of  Douarnenez,  but  find- 
ing no  city  there,  they  kept  on  up  the  coast.  In- 
asmuch as  their  ocean  chart  did  not  show  the 
channel  of  Raz  de  Sein,  they  did  not  find  it,  and 
passed  around  it  into  the  Iroise.  A  message  was 
sent  to  them  to  avoid  the  Iroise,  but  as  that  also 
was  not  shown  on  their  chart,  they  were  forced 
to  ignore  the  warning.  Happily,  they  finally 
reached  Brest  without  accident,  where  they  were 
later  permanently  joined  to  the  destroyer  force 
there.  The  destroyer  U.  S.  S.  Warrington 
joined  the  Brest  forces  at  about  the  same  time. 

In  the  middle  of  December,  the  torpedo  boats 
U.  S.  S.  Truxton  and  U.  S.  S.  Whipple  reached 
Brest,  and  shortly  after,  arrived  the  U.  S.  S. 
Wadsworth^  the  first  thousand-ton  destroyer  to 
be  assigned  to  the  French  waters. 

In  the  forepart  of  19 18,  the  Stewart  and  Wor- 
den,  two  of  our  oldest  torpedo  boats,  made  a 
hazardous  but  successful  transatlantic  passage  in 
the  extreme  weather  of  midwinter.  On  Febru- 
ary 18,  1918,  the  repair  ship  Prometheus,  the 
torpedo  boat  Macdonough  and  the  converted 
yacht  Isabel  moored  in  the  harbor,  and  with  the 


l8.  On  the  Coast  of  France 

passing  months  the  fleet  was  further  augmented 
by  the  arrival  of  the  destroyers  Porter,  Wain- 
write,  Jarvis,  O^Brien,  Benham,  Winslow,  Dray- 
ton, Gushing,  Tucker,  Burrows^  Cummihgs, 
Ericsson,  Fanning,  and  McDougal.  These  were 
followed  later  by  the  first  of  the  new  flush-deck 
destroyers:  Little,  Sigourney,  and  Conner;  and 
about  a  month  before  the  signing  of  the  armi- 
stice these  were  followed  by  the  Taylor,  String- 
ham,  Bell,  Murray,  and  Fairfax.  A  fourth 
flotilla  of  yachts  arrived  during  February,  under 
the  command  of  Commander  David  F.  Boyd, 
U.  S.  N.,  and  included  the  U.  S.  S.  Nokomis, 
U.  S.  S.  Rambler,  and  U.  S.  S.  Utowana  and  the 
tug  Gypsum  Queen.  Another  yacht,  the  U.  S.  S. 
May,  was  also  added  to  the  force,  having  pro- 
ceeded to  Brest  from  Portugal,  where  she  had 
left  a  number  of  submarine  chasers  which  she 
had  escorted  across  the  Atlantic.  In  addition 
to  these  vessels  were  also  added  during  the  fore- 
part of  the  year,  the  tugs  Barnegat  and  Concord 
and  the  repair  ship  Bridgeport.  On  the  eleventh 
of  November,  191 8,  when  hostilities  were  sus- 
pended  by   the    armistice,    the   United   States 


First  Months  of  the  War  19 

Naval  Forces  in  France  comprised  a  total  of 
thirty-five  destroyers,  five  torpedo  boats,  eight- 
een yachts,  eight  tugs,  nine  mine-sweepers, 
three  repair  ships  and  one  barracks  ship,  three 
tenders,  and  one  salvage  vessel. 

Much  has  appeared  in  magazines  and  news- 
papers of  the  actual  debarkation  of  American 
troops  on  French  soil.  Of  those  landing  in  Eng- 
land, or  the  ports  of  other  countries,  we  are  not 
here  concerned.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this  narra- 
tive to  deal  solely  with  the  activities  of  the  Amer- 
ican Naval  Forces  in  France,  and  accordingly 
only  with  those  troop  ships  and  store  ships 
which  sailed  from  American  ports  directly  to 
ports  in  France.  The  first  American  troops 
reached  Saint-Nazaire  on  June  26,  1917.  Per- 
haps never  in  the  world's  history,  has  the  deeper 
and  finer  sentiment  of  a  nation  been  so  thor- 
oughly aroused  as  on  that  famous  day  when 
the  first  few  thousands  of  khaki-clad  soldiers 
touched  foot  on  the  soil  of  France.  A  nation  by 
nature  of  the  deepest  sentiment,  the  people  of 
this  seaport  town,  realized  in  this  slender  van- 
guard the  vivid  expression  of  a  friendship  begun 


20  On  the  Coast  of  France 

in  our  own  struggle  for  national  freedom  and 
sustained  for  a  century  and  a  half  with  almost 
unbroken  continuity. 

During  the  second  half  of  1917,  a  constantly 
increasing  flood  of  American  soldiers  were 
transported  in  safety  to  the  shores  of  France. 
With  the  new  year,  a  greater  volume  began  to 
arrive  and  in  the  month  of  January,  25,280  men 
were  landed.  February  showed  a  slight  loss, 
with  a  total  of  17,483,  which  was  offset  by  the 
total  of  53,043  in  March  and  62,615  in  April. 
In  May,  the  full  flood  began  with  a  total  of 
119,110.  In  June,  104,249  were  landed,  a  num- 
ber which  increased  in  July  to  133,993.  There 
was  a  sudden  drop  in  August  to  93,376,  but  the 
September  quota  of  143,253,  established  a  new 
record,  closely  followed  by  a  total  of  107,547 
in  October.  The  grand  total  for  the  ten  months 
of  19 1 8  was  859,949. 

There  is  no  more  inspiring  sight  than  the 
arrival  of  a  troop  convoy  and  the  description 
of  a  single  instance  may  illustrate,  as  character- 
istic, any  of  the  one  hundred  and  two  troop  con- 
voys which  arrived  during  these  ten  months  of 


First  Months  of  the  War  21 

19 1 8.  At  dawn  the  convoy  of  eight  troop  ships 
which  had  been  proceeding  in  a  double  line  of 
four  ships  each,  formed  single  column,  with 
three  destroyers  on  either  flank.  The  sea  was 
calm  and  the  sun  rose  in  a  soft-blue,  cloudless 
sky.  On  the  eastern  horizon  a  white  lighthouse 
lifted  sharply  from  the  thin  line  of  the  coast. 
The  great  troop  ships,  famous  liners  of  other 
days,  rose  and  fell  heavily  on  the  low  swells, 
their  high  sides  stripped  and  blocked  in  a  strange 
dress  of  blue,  gray,  white  and  black  camouflage, 
their  decks  brown  with  a  solid  mass  of  soldiers 
straining  their  eyes  to  catch  a  first  glimpse  of 
France.  High  overhead,  two  great  yellow 
French  dirigibles  moved  with  smooth  rapidity. 
From  four  gray  hydroplanes,  soaring  in  wide 
circles,  came  the  distant  reverberation  of  motors. 
On  either  hand  the  destroyers,  lean,  lithe  sea- 
whippets,  shook  their  dipping  bows  and  rolled 
in  the  swells  with  a  quick  jerking  motion.  Over 
the  water  came  the  sound  of  nfiusic;  an  Army 
band  was  playing  on  board  the  nearest  transport. 
The  convoy  passed  into  the  channel.  On  the 
south,  great  brown  rocks  lifted  from  the  sea, 


22  On  the  Coast  of  France 

and  on  either  side  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor, 
the  black  cliffs  of  Finistere,  like  twin  Gibraltars, 
marked  the  approach.  The  convoy,  steaming 
slowly,  moved  up  the  channel.  The  broad  blue 
harbor  of  Brest  unfolded,  crowded  with  ship- 
ping. In  the  outer  harbor  great  steamers 
swung  at  their  moorings,  and  behind  the  break- 
water the  water  was  gay  with  camouflaged  ves- 
sels, clusters  of  destroyers  and  the  gray  hulls  of 
two  great  repair  ships.  Beyond  the  harbor 
swung  the  circle  of  the  green  hills  of  Finistere, 
and  on  the  left  the  gray  and  ancient  city  of  Brest 
rose  sharply  from  the  historic  fortress  at  the 
water's  edge.  Quietly  the  destroyers  slipped  into 
the  inner  harbor  and  the  transports  anchored 
outside  the  breakwater.  They  were  "  over ; "  de- 
livered safely  through  the  danger  zone  by  the 
United  States  Naval  Forces  in  France. 

Such,  in  general,  was  the  work  of  the  Navy  in 
French  waters  during  the  sixteen  months  of  its 
activity.  It  was  a  labor  unenlivened  by  those  in- 
spiring engagements  between  ships  of  a  class 
which  marked  our  naval  activities  in  these 
waters  a  century  and  a  half  before.    Rather,  it 


THE  LEVIATHAN 


i      l/               ^X'^ 

^^^HHkA       »                                                             "niirniiiii  1  III  1            'f^^^^l 

TROOP    SHIP    AT    BREST 


A  FRENCH  DIRIGIBLE 


GERMAN    SEA    MINES 


First  Months  of  the  War  23 

was  a  struggle  with  a  force  secretive,  elusive, 
and  mysterious.  There  were  thrusts  in  the  dark 
from  an  unseen  enemy;  there  were  engagements 
fought  and  won  between  ships  invisible  to  each 
other.  Never  could  there  be  a  moment  of  re- 
laxation ;  never  did  an  empty  ocean,  blue  under 
a  summer  sky  or  gleaming  in  the  moonlight, 
assure  the  absence  of  the  enemy.  Great  vessels 
under  escort  were  torpedoed,  vessels  of  coast- 
wise convoys  and  vessels  of  the  deep-sea  traffic 
were  sunk,  but  small  was  the  percentage  of  loss 
compared  with  the  numbers  of  the  mighty  argo- 
sies that  in  safety  sailed  the  sea  and  of  greatest 
significance  stands  the  fact  that  not  one  loaded 
transport  was  destroyed  or  the  life  of  a  single 
passenger  lost.  Few  were  the  absolute  confirma- 
tions of  the  destruction  of  submarines,  but  later 
events  have  disclosed  a  mortality  that  does  com- 
pliment to  Yankee  perseverance  and  the  depth 
charge,  that  frightful  enemy  of  the  submarine, 
which  took  lavish  toll  of  the  sea-wolves  of  the 
underseas. 


CHAPTER  II 

BUILDING  THE  MACHINE 

THE  arrival  of  Rear- Admiral  Henry  'B. 
Wilson  at  Brest  on  Thursday,  November 
I,  1917,  and  the  hoisting  of  his  flag  on  the  U.  S. 
S.  Panther,  marked  the  beginning  of  the  second 
and  final  period  of  our  naval  activities  in  French 
waters.  On  the  staff  of  the  Admiral  were  Com- 
mander John  Halligan,  Jr.,  U.  S.  N.  Chief  of 
Staff,  Lieutenant  Mahlon  S.  Tisdale,  U.  S.  N., 
and  Lieutenant  J.  G.  F.  Reynolds,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F., 
who  had  accompanied  Admiral  Wilson  from 
Gibraltar.  Admiral  Fletcher's  staff  was  assimi- 
lated and  this  small  nucleus  grew  to  some 
seventy  officers  before  the  armistice  was  signed. 
It  is  impossible  adequately  to  chronicle  the 
development  of  these  months  of  organization  and 
accomplishment.  From  the  first  establishment 
of  Captain  Fletcher,  the  organization  was  con- 

24 


Building  the  Machine  25 

sistently  developed  to  meet  new  requirements 
constantly  arising,  requirements  necessitating 
the  occupation  of  quarters  on  shore  which  finally 
extended  to  the  complete  equipment  which 
existed  at  the  final  suspension  of  hostilities. 
Offices  were  acquired  and  new  space  was  con- 
stantly added.  Quarters  for  men  on  shore  duty 
were  provided.  Offices  for  the  pay  department 
were  secured;  a  department  that  at  the  close  of 
the  war  was  in  itself  a  complete  organization, 
handling  a  volume  of  business  undreamed  of  by 
any  of  our  own  Navy  Yards,  with  the  probable 
exception  of  the  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  in  the 
former  days  of  peace.  To  maintain  good  order 
throughout  the  city,  a  naval  patrol  was  estab- 
lished. A  great  post  office,  which  in  one  day 
received  fifteen  thousand  sacks  of  mail,  was 
created.  Coal,  oil,  and  water  facilities  for  the 
ships  were  planned  and  arranged  for.  Com- 
munication systems  were  instituted.  And  in  all 
these  various  activities,  a  cooperation  was  main- 
tained with  the  French  authorities,  both  mari- 
time and  civil,  unbroken  in  the  consistent  spirit 
of  enthusiastic  friendliness. 


26  On  the  Coast  of  France 

The  rapidly  increasing  importance  of  the 
United  States  Naval  Forces  in  France  required 
a  coherent  and  yet  flexible  organization  under 
single  leadership,  and  on  the  twelfth  of  January, 
1918,  after  calling  Admiral  Wilson  to  London 
for  conference  the  first  definite  amplification  of 
the  organization  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Forces  in  France  was  outlined  by  Vice-Admiral 
Sims,  Commander  United  States  Naval  Forces 
operating  in  Europe,  to  Rear- Admiral  Wilson. 
Under  this  new  organization.  Admiral  Wilson 
received  the  title  of  '^  Commander  United 
States  Naval  Forces  in  France"  and  took  com- 
mand of  all  United  States  naval  vessels  operat- 
ing in  French  waters.  As  a  result  of  this  com- 
prehensive command,  the  organization  was  nat- 
urally divided  into  two  parts:  the  naval  forces 
afloat,  including  all  ships  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
Channel  and  the  Atlantic  coasts  of  France,  and 
the  Port  Organization  and  Administration, 
comprising  the  three  districts  of  Brest,  Lorient, 
and  Rochefort,  with  an  officer  of  captain's  rank 
in  command  of  each  of  these  districts. 

Aviation,  under  the  command  of  Captain  H. 


Building  the  Machine  27 

I.  Cone,  was  also  included  under  the  command 
of  Rear-Admiral  Wilson,  but  due  to  the  many 
problems  in  this  new  branch  of  naval  activities, 
a  free  hand  was  given  to  Captain  Cone  in  the 
building  up  and  perfecting  of  the  naval  avia- 
tion service  and  it  may  be  considered  practically 
a  distinct  organization  during  the  phase  of  con- 
struction and  until  the  stations  began  to  operate 
against  the  submarines. 

Commander  W.  R.  Sayles,  U.  S.  N.  (naval 
attache  in  Paris)  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
Intelligence  Service,  and  Captain  R.  H.  Jack- 
son, U.  S.  N.,  became  an  officer  on  Admiral  Wil- 
son's staff,  to  act  primarily  as  liaison  officer  be- 
tween the  Admiral  and  the  French  authorities, 
although  the  right  naturally  remained  to  Ad- 
miral Wilson  to  deal  directly  with  the  French 
Ministry  of  Marine  if  he  should  so  desire.  As 
an  addition  to  the  Intelligence  Service,  a  counter 
espionage  service  was  organized  under  the  com- 
mand of  Commander  Sayles,  and  in  order  to 
clarify  the  work,  the  various  activities  were  sep- 
arated into  six  principal  fields: 

Naval  Forces  Afloat;  Port  Organization  and 


28  On  the  Coast  of  France 

Administration;  Aviation;  Intelligence;  Com- 
munication; Supplies  and  Disbursements. 

In  regard  to  the  control  of  shipping,  it  was 
determined  that  all  troop  and  cargo  transports 
and  other  vessels  flying  the  American  flag  should 
be  escorted  to  their  wharf,  anchorage  or  buoy  by 
the  Navy,  and  that  thereafter,  their  subsequent 
movements,  until  they  should  be  ready  to  leave 
port,  should  be  controlled  by  the  Army  or  Navy, 
according  to  whom  their  cargo  belonged,  and 
that,  upon  leaving  port,  they  would  again  re- 
vert to  naval  control. 

In  accordance  with  this  outline,  Admiral  Wil- 
son designated  the  three  districts  as  follows: 

Brest  to  include  the  territory  extending 
from  Brehat  to  Penmarch,  including  Ushant; 
Lorient,  the  territory  from  Penmarch  to  Fro- 
mentine,  including  Belle-Ile,  and  Rochefort,  the 
territory  extending  from  Fromentine  to  the 
Spanish  line  and  including  the  outlying  islands. 

The  district  commander  in  charge  of  each  of 
these  districts  received  immediate  control  of 
operations  of  all  vessels  placed  under  his  com- 
mand  and  was  further  charged  with  the  re- 


Building  the  Machine  29 

sponsibility  of  repairing  and  supplying  of 
vessels  assigned  to  his  district;  the  development 
and  maintenance  of  adequate  naval  port  facili- 
ties; the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  all 
communication  with  the  Commander  United 
States  Naval  Forces  in  France,  the  prefet  mari- 
time, the  naval  port  officer  of  the  district,  and  the 
other  district  commanders  and  the  supervision  of 
American  shipping  and  of  United  States  naval 
personnel  on  merchant  ships. 

Naval  port  officers  at  all  of  the  principal 
ports,  were  established,  reporting  immediately 
to  their  respective  district  commanders.  The 
duties  of  these  port  officers  were  primarily  to 
facilitate  the  berthing,  discharging,  and  sailing 
of  United  States  troop  and  store  ships,  a  duty 
which  included  all  of  the  arduous  details  which 
constantly  present  themselves  whenever  ship- 
ping in  any  quantity  is  present.  Among  the 
many  duties  assigned  to  port  officers,  the  follow- 
ing were  perhaps  of  major  importance: 

To  cooperate  with  the  United  States  Army 
and  the  French  authorities  in  the  despatch  of 
vessels;  to  keep  the  Commander  United  States 


30  On  the  Coast  of  France 

Naval  Forces  in  France  and  the  district  com- 
mander promptly  informed  of  the  arrival  and 
the  departure  of  all  United  States  vessels;  to 
obtain  from  the  commanding  officers  or  masters 
of  these  vessels  upon  their  arrival,  all  interesting 
information  regarding  the  incidents  of  their 
voyage  and  their  particular  needs;  to  inspect  the 
United  States  naval  armed  guard  and  radio 
men  on  all  United  States  vessels,  other  than  those 
regularly  commissioned  in  the  United  States 
Navy  and  report  on  their  efficiency;  to  assist  in 
supplying  these  vessels  with  necessary  fuel  and 
supplies;  to  pay  the  armed  guard  and  furnish 
them  with  clothing  and  small  stores;  to  investi- 
gate offences  committed  by  United  States  naval 
personnel  on  vessels  other  than  those  regularly 
commissioned  United  States  naval  vessels;  to 
investigate  and  take  action  on  all  admiralty  cases 
involving  United  States  Navy;  to  keep  the 
Commander  United  States  Naval  Forces  in 
France  informed  of  the  readiness  of  all  vessels 
and  of  the  speed  which  they  were  capable  to 
maintain  through  the  danger  zone;  to  familiar- 
ize the  masters  of  ships  with  the  precautions 


J. 


iJI^      w/m^^. 


A  sea  plane  makes  a  bad  dive.     Destroyers  to  the  rescue 


1— a—iiBWKt"' "".>..«.i»w^i!a 


The  destroyer  Monaghan 


The  hammer-head  bow  of  a  destroyer 


Depth   charges   on  the   stern  of  a   destroyer 


Building  the  Machine  3 1 

and  the  prescribed  convoy  scheme  to  be  followed 
within  the  danger  zone;  to  furnish  each  con- 
voy and  its  escort  commander,  prior  to  sailing, 
with  the  latest  information  regarding  submarine 
and  mine  activities  and  to  keep  the  commander 
in  France  constantly  informed  as  to  the  amount 
of  Navy  coal  on  hand,  expended  and  received. 
It  has  been  ever  a  part  of  the  Navy's  duty  to 
stand  ready  to  assume  responsibility  for  the  ful- 
fillment of  whatever  work  might  be  required  to 
prosper  the  best  interests  of  the  Nation,  for 
which  the  Navy  has  been  and  must  continue  to 
be  its  outward  manifestation  throughout  the 
world.  To  create  an  organization,  such  as  con- 
ditions in  France  required,  sufficient  not  only 
to  meet  temporary  needs,  but  also  future  re- 
quirements and  at  the  same  time  to  carry  on  an 
active  warfare  with  a  powerful  enemy,  was  a 
commission  of  the  most  grave  responsibility,  for 
it  required  not  only  the  abilities  of  trained  men 
of  business,  endowed  with  native  American  en- 
ergy and  promptness  of  decision,  but  there  were 
also  required  those  traits  which  are  presumed 
to  attach  solely  to  trained  diplomats.    For  in  all 


32  On  the  Coast  of  France 

this  tremendous  operation  and  creation,  it  was 
necessary  to  maintain  the  utmost  harmony  and 
cordiality  with  a  people  speaking  a  different 
tongue  and  accustomed  to  those  more  composed 
and  conservative  methods  of  accomplishment 
generally  characteristic  of  an  older  nation. 

Throughout  the  entire  history  of  our  naval  co- 
operation with  the  French  nation,  a  spirit  of 
cordiality  and  cooperation  was  consistently 
maintained.  Nor  were  these  relations  broken  by 
a  single  incident  to  mar  the  perfect  accord.  The 
following  telegram  was  received  by  Admiral 
Wilson  on  July  i,  1918,  from  the  French  Vice- 
Admiral  Schwerer  and  seems  particularly  felici- 
tous in  the  exact  expression  of  the  spirit  exist- 
ing between  the  two  nations : 

On  July  4,  1917,  there  arrived  in  our  waters  the  first  eight 
ships  of  war  sent  to  France  by  the  United  States  to  fight  with  us 
against  the  enemy's  piracy.  These  vessels  were  the  yachts  Harvard, 
Vedette,  Kanaivha,  Sultana,  Christabel,  Noma,  Corsair  and  Aphro- 
dite. Since  that  period  these  vessels  have  constantly  collaborated 
with  us  in  the  protection  of  convoys  and  we  have  all  been  wit- 
nesses of  the  ardor  and  the  devotion  brought  by  their  personnel 
to  the  difficult  and  sometimes  ungrateful  tasks  of  the  patrols. 

This  squadron  was  the  vanguard  of  a  flotilla  of  ships,  each 
day  more  numerous  and  more  powerful,  which  arrived  from  the 
other  shore  of  the  ocean  to  take  part  in  the  fight. 

At  the  moment  when  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  in  Brest 
of  this  vanguard  approaches,  I  am  sure  that  I  am  the  interpreter 


Building  the  Machine  33 

of  all  the  officers,  petty  officers,  and  enlisted  men  of  the  divisions 
of  Bretagne,  in  addressing  to  our  American  comrades  the  expres- 
sion of  our  fraternal  esteem  and  of  our  warm  admiration  of  your 
great  nation  which  has  not  hesitated  to  throw  itself  inta  the  most 
terrible  of  wars  for  the  defense  of  Right,  of  Liberty,  and  of 
Civilization. 

(Signed)  Vice- Admiral  Schwerer, 

Commandant  Suphieur  des  Divisions  de  Bretagne. 
Brest,  July  i,  1918. 

On  July  4,  19 18,  the  following  telegram  was 
received  by  the  Commander  United  States 
Naval  Forces  in  France,  from  the  Minister  of 
Marine: 

At  the  moment  when  the  magnificent  battalions  of  the  Ameri- 
can Army  are  marching  in  Paris  past  the  statues  of  our  cities  un- 
justly occupied  by  the  enemy,  thus  affiirming  the  high  ideals  of 
justice  which  lead  them  to  fight  by  the  side  of  our  soldiers,  I  am 
particularly  happy  to.  address  to  you  my  most  cordial  regards  in 
recognition  of  the  perfect  and  devoted  cooperation  which  our 
naval  forces  in  Brittany  have  not  ceased  to  find  with  the  Ameri- 
can naval  forces  placed  under  your  high  direction  and  the  system- 
atic harmony  of  views  and  sentiments  which  has  not  ceased  to 
reign  between  us. 

Rear-Admiral  Wilson  replied: 

To  the  Minister  of  Marine: 

It  is  a  great  honor  and  satisfaction  to  receive  the  cordial  good 
wishes  expressed  in  your  message  of  today.  The  American  Navy 
is  proud  of  its  privilege  of  working  with  the  French  Navy,  a  serv- 
ice for  which  we  have  the  highest  admiration.  Our  personal  asso- 
ciation with  the  flag  officers  of  your  Navy  has  been  an  inspiration 
to  me. 

(Signed)  H.  B.  Wilson. 


34  On  the  Coast  of  France 

On  September  21;,  19 18,  Rear- Admiral  Henry 
B.  Wilson,  U.  S.  N.,  Commander  United  States 
Naval  Forces  in  France  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  vice-admiral,  U.  S.  N.,  and  his  flag 
was  hoisted  on  the  flagship  Prometheus, 

There  are  times  when  only  statistics  can  giye 
a  definite  conception,  and  a  few  figures  selected 
from  the  mass  of  data  relating  to  these  impres- 
sive operations  may  indicate  in  some  measure 
the  scope  of  the  accomplishment.  From  noth- 
ing, on  July  I,  1917,  the  United  States  Naval 
Forces  in  France  had  grown  by  October  i,  19 18, 
to  an  establishment  of  22,111  officers  and  men; 
of  these  1,422  were  officers.  Afloat,  the  per- 
sonnel numbered  601  officers  and  7,480  men. 
Of  the  shore  forces,  160  officers  and  2,187  men 
were  distributed  among  the  three  base  organiza- 
tions; 71  officers  and  207  men  among  the  port 
offices,  578  officers  and  9,789  men  among  the  16 
naval  air  stations ;  24  officers  and  488  men  with 
the  naval  railway  battery;  18  officers  and  556 
men  with  the  high  power  radio  detachment  and 
27  officers  and  j;8  men  on  detached  staff  service. 

During  the  first  nine  months  of  191 8  an  ap- 


Building  the  Machine  35 

proximate  total  of  752,402  troops  was  convoyed 
safely  through  the  danger  zone  and  landed  at 
French  ports.  On  one  day  alone  sixteen  ships 
containing  over  forty  thousand  men  were 
brought  in  safety  into  a  single  port.  Two  hundred 
and  sixty  convoys,  comprising  1,499  vessels,  were 
convoyed,  during  the  same  period  through  the 
zone,  proceeding  either  to  French  ports  or  home- 
ward bound.  And  this  was  accomplished  by 
a  fleet,  all  told,  which  reached  eighty  odd  ves- 
sels only  a  few  weeks  before  the  armistice  was 
signed,  and  was  manned  by  approximately  eight 
thousand  officers  and  men. 

During  the  closing  months  of  the  war,  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  base  at  Brest  assumed  proportions 
far  in  excess  of  the  anticipation  of  any  of  those 
who  contributed  to  the  early  days  of  its  estab- 
lishment. Repairs  to  escort  vessels,  transports, 
merchant  ships,  and  vessels  wrecked  by  storm  or 
collision,  or  torn  by  torpedoes,  necessitated  op- 
erations similar  to  those  required  by  the  most 
modern  Navy  Yards  in  the  United  States.  Re- 
pair shops  afloat  and  on  shore  were  working  in 
shifts,  in  order  that  the  vast  volume  of  work 


36  On  the  Coast  of  France 

might  be  accomplished.  The  administrative 
force  had  been  constantly  increased  to  keep  pace 
with  these  developments  and  a  continuously 
growing  number  of  enlisted  men  had  required 
additional  barracks  on  shore. 


CHAPTER  III 

IN  THE  PATH  OF  THE  SUBMARINE 

IN  THE  many  engagements  between  Allied 
vessels  and  German  submarines  in  French 
waters  the  fortitude  of  the  officers  and  crews  of 
the  smaller  merchantmen  and  particularly  of 
the  French  fishing  vessels  afforded  many  dra- 
matic instances.  Due  to  the  limited  number  of 
French  and  American  patrol  vessels  it  was  but 
natural  that  many  of  the  smaller  vessels  took  a 
"long  chance"  and  endeavored  to  make  their 
way  unescorted  along  the  coast.  Many  of  these 
vessels  were  attacked  and  a  large  number  were 
destroyed;  but  out  of  the  total  number  of  en- 
gagements there  are  several  which  particularly 
illustrate  the  temper  of  the  French  seaman  in 
the  face  of  almost  overwhelming  odds. 

At  about  eleven  o'clock  of  the  morning  of 
December  4,  1917,  the  St.  Antoine  de  Padoue, 

S7 


38  On  the  Coast  of  France 

2i  three-masted  sailing  vessel  left  Britton  Ferry 
for  Fecamp.  She  was  making  about  three  pr 
four  knots  in  a  S.  S.  E.  direction  when  a  shell 
fell  about  two  hundred  meters  off  the  starboard 
bow  and  a  violent  explosion  was  heard  astern. 
The  pilot  who  was  standing  on  the  poop  deck 
with  the  captain  saw  the  submarine  which  was 
headed  N.  E.  at  a  distance  of  four  thousand 
meters  on  the  port  quarter.  ^'  General  quarters " 
was  immediately  sounded ;  the  captain  ordered  a 
zigzag  course  to  be  followed  in  order  to  confuse 
the  aim  of  the  submarine,  and  opened  fire  with 
his  own  guns.  After  seventeen  shots  had  been 
fired  by  the  St.  Antoine,  the  submarine  sub- 
merged and  disappeared.  The  engagement  had 
lasted  fifteen  minutes  and  no  damage  was  done 
to  the  sailing  vessel.  But  fifteen  minutes  later 
the  submarine  reappeared  and  resumed  firing  at 
a  slightly  increased  distance.  The  first  shell  fell 
short  on  the  starboard  side.  The  captain 
promptly  responded  with  his  stern  gun  and  re- 
sumed his  zigzag,  but  within  a  few  minutes  the 
sighting  piece  of  the  gun  was  shot  away  and 
damage  to  the  breech  put  the  gun  temporarily 


Destroyers  waiting  for  an  incoming  convoy 


Troop  ship  escorted  by  a  destroyer  and  two  sea  planes 


Observation   balloon    on    a   destroyer 


The  balloon  gonig  up 


In  the  Path   of  the  Submarine  39 

out  of  action.  Undaunted,  the  captain  maneu- 
vered to  bring  his  forward  gun  into  action, 
but  a  shot  from  the  submarine  struck  the  port 
side  of  the  sailing  ship,  inflicting  severe  damage. 
In  spite  of  the  heavy  fire  which  continued,  the 
men  stuck  to  their  posts  and  continued  what 
seemed  to  be  a  hopeless  struggle.  At  the  darkest 
moment,  however,  a  British  hydroplane  made  its 
appearance  and  caused  the  submarine  to  sub- 
merge. This  was  the  third  time  that  the  St. 
Antoine  had  escaped  after  having  been  attacked 
by  German  submarines  and  the  captain  had  al- 
ready been  cited  as  a  result  of  these  engage- 
ments. 

On  another  occasion,  the  St.  Antoine  de  Pa- 
doue  was  engaged  in  fishing  off  Fecamp.  While 
the  crew  were  attending  to  their  nets,  a  small 
boat  with  two  leg-o-mutton  sails  appeared  on  the 
horizon  at  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles.  In 
waters  frequented  by  fishing  boats  the  appear- 
ance of  a  craft  of  this  nature  would  not  normally 
attract  attention,  but  in  this  particular  instance 
the  vessel  sighted  seemed  to  be  pursuing  a  course 
parallel  to  the  course  of  the  St.  Antoine,  at  a 


40  On  the  Coast  of  France 

rate  of  speed  in  excess  of  that  justified  by  the 
small  size  of  her  sails.  The  suspicions  of  the 
captain  were  promptly  aroused  and  he  sent  his 
crew  to  battle  stations.  Gradually  the  courses 
of  the  two  ships  converged  and  the  St,  Antoine 
fired  a  shot,  hoping  that  the  suspicious  vessel 
would  show  a  signal.  No  signal,  however,  ap- 
peared and  a  few  minutes  later  the  sails  were 
hauled  down  and  a  conning  tower  was  clearly 
seen  in  silhouette  against  the  horizon.  For  some 
reason  unknown,  no  attack  was  offered,  probably 
due  to  the  apparent  readiness  which  the  captain 
of  the  St.  Antoine  showed  for  battle;  and  shortly 
after  the  submarine  disappeared  and  the  St. 
Antoine  proceeded  on  her  course. 

Another  interesting  attack  was  reported  as 
having  occurred  on  the  ninth  of  January,  1917, 
against  the  French  steamer  Barsac,  bound  from 
Brest  to  Le  Havre.  The  Barsac,  entirely  dark- 
ened, was  proceeding  at  a  speed  of  about  ten 
knots,  when  at  6:35  P.M.  a  torpedo  suddenly  ex- 
ploded against  the  side,  opposite  No.  3  hatch, 
promptly  filling  the  engine-room  with  water. 
The  ship  filled  rapidly  by  the  stern  and  sank  in 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  41 

three  minutes.  No  one  on  board  saw  either  the 
submarine  or  the  torpedo. 

With  the  utmost  calmness  the  crew  manned 
the  boats,  the  captain  alone  remaining  aboard 
the  stricken  vessel.  When  the  ship  went  down 
the  captain  was  dragged  after  her  by  the  suction, 
but  coming  to  the  surface  was  rescued  about 
twenty  minutes  later  by  one  of  the  ship's  boats. 
The  surviving  members  of  the  crew  were  finally 
picked  up  by  a  patrol  boat,  but  eighteen  men 
were  lost 

On  December  21,  at  a  little  after  one  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  Portuguese  steamer  Boa  Vista 
in  convoy  with  five  other  ships  escorted  by  two 
French  patrol  boats,  the  Albatros  and  the  Sau- 
terelle,  were  proceeding  north,  enroute  for 
Quiberon.  The  sea  was  calm  and  the  night  clear 
and  brilliant  although  there  was  no  moon.  No 
sign  of  submarine  activities  appeared  on  the  still 
water.  Suddenly,  the  Boa  Vista  was  struck  by 
a  torpedo  on  the  starboard  side  a  little  forward 
of  the  bridge.  For  half  an  hour  the  ship  sank 
slowly  by  the  bow.  The  patrol  boats  "  stood  by," 
rescuing  the  crew  and  endeavoring  to  take  in  tow 


42  On  the  Coast  of  France 

the  lifeboats  which  she  had  launched.  Suddenly 
the  conning  tower  of  the  submarine  appeared  at 
a  distance  of  five  thousand  meters  and  fired  a 
second  torpedo  at  the  Boa  Vista  which  sank 
rapidly  and  disappeared  five  minutes  later. 

Early  in  January,  the  steam  trawler  St. 
Mathieu  left  Brest  on  her  way  to  the  fishing 
grounds  about  one  hundred  miles  S.  S.  W.  of 
Raz  de  Sein.  In  the  morning  of  the  sixth,  when 
seventy-seven  miles  S.  W.  of  Belle-Ile,  the  look- 
out sighted  a  boat  on  the  horizon  and  a  few 
seconds  afterward  a  shell  passed  over  the  St. 
Mathieu.  The  captain  promptly  hauled  in  his 
nets,  sent  his  crew  to  battle  stations  and  heading 
for  the  enemy,  opened  fire  with  his  bow  gun. 
A  few  minutes  later,  a  shell  from  the  submarine 
shattered  the  upper  part  of  the  bridge,  wound- 
ing the  man  at  the  wheel  and  another  near  the 
bow.  Encouraging  his  crew,  the  captain  of  the 
trawler  continued  his  action  until  another  shell 
from  the  submarine  mortally  wounded  three  of 
the  guns'  crew,  but  undaunted,  the  only  survivor 
continued  to  fire  until  the  ammunition  was  ex- 
hausted.    The  submarine  was  now  relatively 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  43 

near  the  trawler  and  her  fire  was  extremely  ac- 
curate. By  this  time,  out  of  a  total  crew  of  thir- 
teen on  board  the  trawler,  four  were  killed,  four 
badly  wounded,  and  all  of  the  remaining  were 
suffering  from  minor  injuries. 

It  was  now  necessary  to  abandon  ship  and  the 
captain  with  the  survivors  put  off  in  a  small  boat. 
A  few  minutes  later  the  submarine  sank  the 
St.  Mathieu  by  gunfire  and  promptly  sub- 
merged. Then  followed  thirty  hours  of  great 
suffering  on  the  part  of  the  crew  of  the  trawler, 
all  of  whom  were  more  or  less  wounded.  A 
heavy  sea  was  running  and  navigation  was  diffi- 
cult. The  night  was  very  dark.  Toward  morn- 
ing a  patrol  vessel  heard  the  cries  of  the  sailors, 
but  in  her  attempt  to  effect  a  rescue,  ran  into  the 
lifeboat  and  capsized  it,  with  the  result  that  four 
of  the  crew  were  drowned.  The  survivors  of 
the  St.  Mathieu  were  landed  at  La  Palice  on  the 
morning  of  the  eighth  of  January  and  later  the 
captain  was  awarded  the  Military  Medal  and  all 
of  the  members  of  the  crew  were  cited  in  orders. 

At  about  noon  on  the  tenth  of  October,  19 17, 
the  captain  of  the  French  ship  Transporteur, 


44  On  the  Coast  of  France 

was  exchanging  semaphore  signals  with  the 
Afrique  II,  a  French  patrol  boat,  when  he  no- 
ticed in  the  sunlight,  at  a  distance  of  about  three 
hundred  meters,  the  wake  of  a  torpedo  coming 
toward  him,  a  little  forward  of  the  beam.  He 
immediately  steamed  "hard-right,"  reversed  his 
engine  and  warned  his  escort  by  whistle.  Un- 
fortunately his  action,  although  prompt,  proved 
unable  to  avoid  the  path  of  the  torpedo,  which, 
striking  the  ship  at  the  water  line,  caused  a  ter- 
rific explosion  and  brought  down  the  forward 
mast.  The  ship  listed  and  forty  seconds  later 
the  water  was  almost  even  with  the  forecastle. 
For  a  brief  period  the  vessel  remained  standing 
almost  perpendicular,  its  propeller  continuing  to 
turn  rapidly  in  the  air;  then  perpendicularly 
and  like  an  arrow  shot  from  a  great  height, 
it  dived  into  the  sea.  Of  the  twenty-four  men 
comprising  the  crew,  twenty-one  survivors  were 
rescued  by  the  Afrique  II,  while  swimming  in 
the  wreckage. 

The  engagement  of  the  French  steamer  La 
Ronce  with  an  enemy  submarine,  is  another  ex- 
ample of  French  fortitude.    Sighting  a  torpedo 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  45 

on  the  port  beam  headed  in  a  direction  which 
would  undoubtedly  bring  it  up  opposite  the  en- 
gine-room, the  officer  of  the  deck  put  his  rudder 
"hard-left"  with  the  result  that  the  torpedo  ex- 
ploded by  No.  4  hatch,  tearing  a  large  hole  in 
the  side  of  the  vessel.  The  stern  gun  being  de- 
stroyed, the  captain  manned  his  forward  gun, 
but  could  not  locate  the  submarine.  Little  by 
little,  the  ship  settled  by  the  stern  and  the  after 
part  of  the  deck  being  submerged,  the  water 
began  to  enter  the  engine-room  through  the 
hatchways.  Seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to 
keep  his  vessel  afloat  much  longer,  the  captain 
ordered  her  to  be  abandoned  and  the  crew  em- 
barked in  boats  in  a  heavy  sea.  As  several  of 
the  boats  had  been  destroyed  by  the  explosion, 
those  that  were  launched  were  overloaded  and 
when  the  order  was  given  by  the  captain  to 
"  push  oflF,"  he  realized  their  crowded  condition 
and  remained  on  board  the  sinking  ship  with  the 
engineer  officer  and  radio  officer  and  with  them 
went  down  with  the  ship. 

The  Voltaire  II  was  bound  for  Nantes.    Sail- 
ing from  Gibraltar  on  the  eighth  of  December, 


46  On  the  Coast  of  France 

1917,  the  captain  opened  his  secret;  instructions, 
issued  in  the  event  of  his  leaving  the  convoy,  and 
proceeded  about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles 
in  a  new  direction.  The  night  was  very  dark 
and  the  ship  was  without  lights.  At  twenty 
minutes  to  four  a  torpedo  struck  the  ship  near 
the  stern,  tearing  loose  the  mainmast  and  throw- 
ing it  on  the  bridge.  The  wireless  antenna  was 
carried  away  by  the  falling  mast  and  the  water 
rose  so  rapidly  that  it  became  impossible  to  use 
the  auxiliary  antenna.  Due  also  to  the  rapidly 
rising  water,  the  boats  were  jammed  against  the 
davit-heads  and  with  the  exception  of  the  port 
whaleboat,  which  was  launched  with  four  men, 
none  of  them  could  be  lowered.  The  ship  dis- 
appeared in  three  minutes,  taking  with  her  the 
captain  and  the  greater  part  of  the  crew.  About 
twenty-four  sailors  were  rescued  by  the  whale- 
boat.  Sail  was  made  and  the  boat  was  headed 
for  Belle-Ile,  in  a  heavy  sea.  It  was  cold  and  the 
boat  was  so  overloaded  that  it  was  difficult  to 
keep  it  afloat.  The  men  for  the  most  part,  were 
about  half  dressed  and  became  rapidly  ex- 
hausted.   During  the  evening  of  the  twelfth,  the 


The    British    mystery    ship   Dunraven,   under   fire    from   a    sub- 
marine.     The    white    smoke    at    the    stern    is    from 
an    exploding    shell 


The  Dunraven  sinking 


,  Is  -.fci  'te-St"-*  -ti  i?liife 


The  Philomel  (British)  sinking  after  being  torpedoed 


The    last    of    the    Philomel 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  47 

light  of  Penmarch  was  seen,  but  soon  after  the 
mast  broke  and  it  became  necessary  to  continue 
with  the  oars.  A  few  hours  after,  they  passed  a 
convoy  and  later  a  single  ship,  but  their  signals 
of  distress  were  unnoticed.  Finally,  at  noon  they 
were  sighted  by  the  French  trawler  which  res- 
cued the  men  and  took  them  to  Lorient.  Two 
died  from  the  cold  and  exposure.  At  no  time 
before  or  after  the  torpedoing  did  anyone  see 
the  submarine  or  its  periscope. 

On  her  way  from  St.  Malo,  to  join  a  convoy 
of  sailing  vessels,  the  French  schooner  Jermaine 
was  attacked  by  a  submarine  which  opened  with 
four  shells  and  followed  with  a  volley  of  fire, 
meanwhile  circling  the  sailing  vessel.  The 
Jermaine  was  ably  commanded  by  a  former 
sergeant  of  colonial  infantry  who  promptly 
organized  the  crew  and  prepared  to  defend  the 
ship  at  all  hazards.  The  sea  was  running  so 
high  that  it  was  impossible  to  see  the  submarine 
except  at  rare  intervals.  Climbing  into  the  rig- 
ging, in  order  personally  to  watch  the  shots 
which  were  fired  by  the  Jermaine  whenever  the 
enemy  became  visible  between  the  troughs  of 


48  On  the  Coast  of  France 

the  sea,  the  captain  tacked  to  run  with  the  wind 
in  order  to  make  use  of  his  two  guns.  So  ac- 
curate was  the  fire  of  the  sailing  ship  that  at  the 
fourth  shot  from  the  Jermaine,  the  submarine 
abandoned  the  struggle  and  rapidly  changed  its 
course. 

The  British  ship  Austradale  left  Milford 
Haven  on  the  sixteenth  of  October,  1917,  in  a 
convoy  of  twenty-five  ships,  proceeding  in 
columns  of  eight.  Her  position  was  No.  i  in  the 
left  column.  About  three  days  out,  the  Austra- 
dale sighted  at  a  distance  of  approximately  three 
miles,  an  object  which  appeared  to  be  a  capsized 
fishing  boat.  The  captain  gave  the  signal  ^'  Sus- 
picious object  sighted  "  and  now  believes  it  was 
put  there  by  the  submarine  in  order  to  divert 
his  attention  from  the  subsequent  attack  which 
came  from  the  opposite  side.  At  all  events, 
while  watching  the  object,  the  ship  was  suddenly 
torpedoed  on  the  port  side,  on  a  line  with  the 
engine-room,  and  sank  in  three  minutes.  The 
forty-five  surviving  members  of  the  crew  em- 
barked in  a  whaleboat  and  two  dinghies.  The 
boats  were  well  provided  with   food  ^d  as 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  49 

danger  was  imminent,  the  convoy  proceeded  and 
the  small  boats  were  soon  lost  in  the  night.  For 
seven  days,  the  crew  navigated  their  small  craft 
in  heavy  seas,  covering  a  distance  of  330  miles. 
During  this  period,  one  man  becarne  insane  and 
jumped  into  the  sea.  Leaks  developed  which 
required  constant  baling  and  reduced  the  sur- 
vivors to  a  state  of  almost  complete  exhaustion. 
Two  of  the  dinghies  reached  Port  Kerrel,  but 
one  of  the  men  later  died  of  exhaustion.  The 
whaleboat,  containing  twenty-four  men,  was 
never  heard  from. 

On  September  16,  1918,  the  Rambler  rescued 
forty-one  survivors  from  the  British  S.  S.  Philo- 
mel and  carried  them  into  Lorient.  The  Philo- 
mel was  the  leading  ship  of  the  right  column  of  a 
south-bound  convoy  from  Brest  to  La  Palice  and 
the  Rambler  was  one  of  the  escorting  vessels. 
No  submarine  or  torpedo  was  seen  at  any 
time,  nor  was  the  submarine  detected  by  the  lis- 
tening devices.  The  Philomel  was  struck  on  the 
starboard  side,  under  the  bridge,  and,  following 
the  explosion,  she  swung  to  starboard  out  of  the 
column  and  was  immediately  abandoned.     At 


50  On  the  Coast  of  France 

6:14  P.Mv  about  thirty  minutes  after  being 
struck,  the  Philomel  began  to  sink  by  the  bow, 
taking  a  very  sharp  angle  until  her  bow  seemed 
to  rest  on  the  bottom.  A  minute  later  she  dis- 
appeared from  sight,  with  steam  escaping  and 
her  whistle  blowing. 

Relatively  few  were  the  disasters  which  befell 
American  troop  and  store  ships.  And  of  those 
sinkings  which  occurred,  the  large  majority  were 
among  the  empty  vessels  homeward  bound. 
Perhaps  the  slightly  inferior  escorts  which  took 
out  the  returning  ships  may  have  been  the  reason, 
but  it  is  more  probable  to  suppose  that  the  enemy 
found  a  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  eastward- 
bound  convoys  which  would  have  been  unmeas- 
urably  intensified  by  the  knowledge,  on  the  part 
of  the  officers  and  crews  of  both  escort  and  con- 
voy that  American  lives  other  than  their  own 
and  property  necessary  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  war  were  resting  in  their  protection  below 
the  vessels'  decks. 

Particularly  to  the  credit  of  all  concerned, 
was  the  salvaging  of  the  ships  West  Bridge, 
Westward    Ho,    and    Mount    Vernon.      Only 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  51 

through  the  indomitable  perseverance  of  the 
officers  and  men  were  these  wounded  vessels 
brought  into  port.  The  story  of  their  rescue  is 
one  of  the  silent  epics  of  the  war. 

The  torpedoing  and  rescue  of  the  Westward 
Ho  has  been  told  in  a  previous  chapter  but  the 
incidents  attendant  on  the  attacks  on  the  West 
Bridge  and  Mount  Vernon  deserve  mention  in 
this  narrative. 

There  was  unusual  activity  of  enemy  sub- 
marines to  the  west  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay  during 
the  early  part  of  August,  1918,  and  three  vessels, 
the  U.  S.  S.  A.  C.  T.  Montanan  of  6,659  tons 
gross,  the  U.  S.  S.  A.  C.  T.  West  Bridge  of  8,800 
tons  gross,  and  the  U.  S.  S.  A.  C.  T.  Cubore  of 
7,300  tons  gross  were  torpedoed. 

The  Montanan  was  struck  when  proceeding  in 
convoy  at  about  7  P.M.  on  August  iS  and  sank  at 
3  P.M.  on  the  following  day.  The  yacht  Noma, 
acting  in  the  escort,  took  aboard  eighty-one  sur- 
vivors and  reported  that  five  of  the  personnel 
were  missing. 

The  U.  S.  S.  A.  C.  T.  Montanan  reported  that 
three  torpedoes  were  fired.     Of  these  she  sue- 


52  On  the  Coast  of  France 

ceeded  in  dodging  two,  but  was  hit  by  the  third 
torpedo  abreast  of  the  after  end  of  the  engine- 
room.  The  explosion  smashed  a  boat  and  put 
the  radio  completely  out  of  commission.  The 
ship  settled  rapidly  and  it  was  in  abandoning 
ship  that  the  two  members  of  the  armed  guard 
were  drowned. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  on  August  i6, 
the  West  Bridge  was  torpedoed  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  spot  where  the  Montanan  was  sunk. 
She  was  proceeding  in  the  same  convoy,  but 
had  fallen  back  due  to  engine  trouble  and  for 
some  hours  prior  to  her  attack  her  engines  had 
stopped  entirely.  While  lying  in  this  extremely 
vulnerable  position,  she  was  struck  by  two  tor- 
pedoes in  quick  succession,  the  second  torpedo 
being  visible  at  the  moment  when  the  first  tor- 
pedo went  home.  The  Concord,  Smith,  and 
Barnegat  were  despatched  to  her  assistance,  but 
the  destroyers  Drayton  and  Fanning  which  were 
standing  by  her,  were  required  to  leave  her  on 
the  afternoon  of  August  i6  to  join  a  convoy.  One 
officer  and  three  men  were  missing,  probably 
killed  by  the  explosion  in  the  engine-room.    The 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  53 

ninety-nine  survivors  were  taken  into  Brest  by 
the  U.  S.  S.  Burrows. 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  West  Bridge 
in  Brest,  it  was  calculated  that  only  one  per  cent 
of  the  normal  buoyancy  of  the  hull  before  load- 
ing, remained.  The  calculated  buoyancy  having 
been  reduced  from  ten  thousand  tons  to  one 
hundred  tons. 

The  Cubore  was  struck  on  August  15  at 
ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  and  sank  an  hour 
later.  Fifty  survivors  including  the  captain  and 
the  armed  guard  were  taken  off  by  the  French 
gunboat  Etourde. 

The  Westover  of  the  Naval  Overseas  Trans- 
portation Service  was  torpedoed  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  eleventh  of  July,  1918,  and  sank 
forty  minutes  later.  The  vessel  left  New  York 
in  convoy,  but  it  had  been  forced  to  drop  behind 
because  of  engine  troubles;  due  primarily  to  the 
inexperience  of  her  engineer  force  with  turbine 
machinery.  These  troubles  were  later  overcome 
and  at  the  time  she  was  torpedoed,  the  Westover 
was  making  her  speed  and  endeavoring  to  over- 
take the  convoy.     She  was  struck  by  two  tor- 


54  On  the  Coast  of  France 

pedoes.  The  first  struck  on  the  starboard  side, 
abaft  No.  3  hatch  and  the  second  aft  on  the  port 
side.  Her  cargo  contained  1,000  tons  of  steel, 
2,000  tons  of  flour,  10  locomotives  and  14  motor 
trucks,  a  deck  load  of  400  piles  and  250  tons  of 
second-class  mail. 

The  Warrington  arrived  on  the  scene  within 
a  few  hours  of  the  time  of  the  sinking  of  the 
vessel.  Five  boats  containing  the  survivors  made 
the  French  coast  in  the  vicinity  of  Brest;  but 
three  officers  and  eight  enlisted  men  were  lost. 

On  September  5,  191 8,  the  U.  S.  S.  Mount 
Vernon,  westward  bound  'from  Brest  for  the 
United  States  was  proceeding  in  company  with 
the  U.  S.  S.  Agamemnon.  At  a  little  before 
eight  in  the  morning,  her  watch  sighted  a  sub- 
marine forward  of  the  beam,  in  a  position  be- 
tween the  Mount  Vernon  and  the  Agamemnon. 
The  Mount  Vernon  immediately  dropped  five 
depth  charges  and  fired  one  shell  in  the  direction 
of  the  periscope.  Ten  seconds  later  the  ship  re- 
ceived the  torpedo  amidships  on  the  starboard 
side,  between  fire-rooms  three  and  four,  killing 
thirty-five  of  the  engine-  and  fire-room  force  and 


The  bow  of  the 


'Oil  Steuben  after  collision  with  the 
Agamemnon 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  55 

wounding  twelve.  The  Mount  Vernon  accom- 
panied by  three  destroyers  started  to  return  to 
Brest  at  a  speed  of  six  knots,  which  was  later 
increased  to  fourteen  knots,  arriving  at  Brest 
about  midnight;  the  Agamemnon  continued  her 
voyage  westward. 

On  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  disaster,  the 
Sigourney,  with  two  other  destroyers  and  the 
U.  S.  S.  Barnegat  and  Anderton  were  sent 
out  from  Brest  to  assist  in  escorting  the  Mount 
Vernon  into  port.  At  the  time  of  her  departure 
from  Brest,  the  Mount  Vernon  was  drawing 
twenty-nine  feet  aft.  On  her  return  she  was 
drawing  thirty-nine  feet,  five  inches  aft  and 
thirty-three  feet  forward;  four  of  her  fire-rooms 
being  completely  flooded.  She  was  also  listing 
10°  to  port.  From  the  time  the  torpedo  struck 
the  ship  until  its  arrival  in  dock,  in  Brest,  all  of 
the  officers  and  men  worked  untiringly  on 
pumps,  handy-billies,  and  buckets,  putting  addi- 
tional shores  on  the  bulkheads  and  reinforcing 
hatches  and  doors.  The  Mount  Vernon  docked 
at  Brest,  repaired  and  later  was  again  put  into 
commission. 


56  On  the  Coast  of  France 

The  U.  S.  S.  Buenaventura,  an  American 
cargo  transport  of  8,200  tons,  sailed  from  Le 
Verdon  in  convoy  on  the  fourteenth  of  Septem- 
ber, 19 1 8,  and  was  struck  by  two  torpedoes  and 
sank  in  six  minutes,  shortly  after  the  convoy  had 
been  dispersed  and  the  escort  had  left  on  its  way 
to  the  rendezvous  of  the  incoming  convoy.  So 
sudden  was  the  attack  and  the  final  plunge  of  the 
vessel  that  only  three  boats  were  able  to  get 
away.  All  reports  indicate  that  the  behavior 
of  the  officers  and  crew  was  excellent;  the  cap- 
tain devoted  his  entire  efforts  to  save  his  crew, 
declining  to  the  very  last  to  make  any  effort  to 
leave  the  sinking  ship.  A  motor  sailer  and  an- 
other boat  which  succeeded  in  getting  away 
were  picked  up  by  the  French  destroyer  Teme- 
raire,  and  brought  into  Brest,  and  a  third  boat, 
containing  the  commanding  officer,  the  executive 
officer,  and  twenty-seven  men  reached  Corunna, 
Spain,  after  a  number  of  days  at  sea. 

One  of  the  last  cargo  carriers  to  meet  de- 
struction by  a  submarine  was  the  U.  S.  S.  A.  C. 
T.  Joseph  Cudahy,  which  was  struck  by  two  tor- 
pedoes on  the  seventeenth  of  August,  19 18.   The 


In  the  Path  of  the  Submarine  57 

first  torpedo  struck  the  Cudahy  in  the  fuel  tank; 
the  second  in  the  engine-room.  Two  submarines 
took  part  in  the  action.  After  abandoning  ship, 
the  captain  of  the  Cudahy  was  taken  on  board 
one  of  the  submarines  and  questioned  concerning 
the  destination  and  whereabouts  of  the  convoy. 
Sixty-two  members  of  the  crew  were  lost. 

A  study  of  the  circumstances,  surrounding  the 
torpedoing  of  the  Justicia,  President  Lincoln, 
Covington,  Tuscania,  Antilles,  and  Tippecanoe, 
as  well  as  a  number  of  other  vessels,  shows  that 
all  of  these  were  sunk  by  quartering  shots.  This 
indicates  that  the  probable  procedure  of  the  sub- 
marine was  to  submerge  in  advance  of  the  con- 
voy and  at  right  angles  to  its  course,  having  esti- 
mated from  previous  bearings  the  convoy's  gen- 
eral direction  and  the  probable  nature  of  the 
zigzag,  emerging  when  its  hydrophones  indi- 
cated that  the  convoy  had  passed.  From  such  a 
position,  the  danger  to  the  submarine  would  be 
materially  reduced,  inasmuch  as  the  convoy 
would  be  soon  in  advance  of  the  position  occu- 
pied by  the  submarine;  provided,  of  course,  that 
no  escort  was  occupying  a  position  astern  of  the 


58  On  the  Coast  of  France 

convoy.  High  speed  on  the  part  of  the  vessels 
attacked,  would  naturally,  from  this  supposition, 
prove  a  great  asset  of  safety. 

Large  as  were  the  dangers  due  to  the  sub- 
marine, it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  yachts  and  de- 
stroyers on  the  French  coast  that  the  record 
of  the  American  debarkation  in  France  was 
achieved,  and  also,  that  of  the  ships  which  were 
lost,  the  great  majority  were  homeward  bound 
and  hence  empty  of  troops  or  cargo. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  CONVERTED  YACHTS 

IT  IS  fair  to  presume  that  in  the  years  to  come 
the  part  which  the  United  States  Navy 
played  in  the  Great  War  will  be  in  a  large  part 
judged  by  the  safe  conduct  of  troop  and  store 
ships  to  and  from  the  coast  of  France.  As  the 
territory  stretching  from  Switzerland  to  the  Bel- 
gian coast  formed  the  front  line  of  our  land 
forces,  so  the  fighting  front  of  the  United  States 
Navy  may  be  considered,  in  the  large  part,  the 
western  coast  of  France. 

During  the  long  months  of  submarine  warfare 
bodies  of  troops  were  safely  transported  across 
the  Atlantic,  escorted  through  the  submarine 
danger  zone  and  landed  on  foreign  soil,  in  num- 
bers never  exceeded  by  any  similar  instance  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Not  only  was  an  army 
thus  convoyed  in  safety,  but,  and  of  equal  im- 

59 


6o  On  the  Coast  of  France 

portance,  were  the  vast  quantities  of  stores  neces- 
sary for  its  subsistence  and  for  the  prosecution 
of  the  war  carried  safely  through  an  area  in- 
fested with  enemy  submarines.  To  meet  the 
enemy  two  classes  of  vessels  were  assigned  to  the 
work.  Of  these  the  destroyers  were  by  their  con- 
struction best  fitted  for  the  duty  required  and 
their  service  for  this  reason  was  in  many  ways 
of  paramount  value,  but  credit  must  not  be 
slighted  to  the  yachts,  which  although  manned 
in  a  large  measure  by  relatively  inexperienced 
reserve  officers,  and  themselves  being  by  con- 
struction entirely  unfitted  for  the  service,  per- 
formed a  duty  the  value  of  which  can  never  be 
adequately  estimated. 

In  the  preceding  chapters  has  been  briefly 
sketched  the  story  of  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  of 
converted  yachts  and  the  general  nature  of  the 
duties  they  were  required  to  perform.  To  the 
average  conception  a  yacht  is  primarily  a  grace- 
ful pleasure  craft,  immaculate  with  white  paint 
and  gleaming  brightwork,  with  snowy  decks  and 
awnings  and  pillowed  wicker  chairs  on  the  after 
deck.     The  yacht  is  by  birth  and  breeding  a 


The  Converted  Yachts  6i 

member  of  a  wealthy  aristocracy;  a  frequenter 
of  social  gatherings.  She  is  a  vessel  found  only 
on  summer  seas,  in  sparkling  harbors  gay  with 
flags;  at  regattas  and  in  those  places  where 
wealth  and  fashion  meet. 

Of  the  fleet  that  sailed  originally  from  the 
United  States,  three  may  be  erased  from  the  list 
of  active  participants,  for  the  Guinevere  lies 
broken  on  a  reef  and  the  Alcedo  and  Wakiva 
rest  somewhere  beneath  the  restless  surface  of 
the  Bay  of  Biscay,  the  former  torpedoed  by  the 
enemy,  the  latter  rammed  by  night  by  a  ship  of 
her  convoy.  As  the  months  passed  there  was 
soon  a  noticeable  change  of  aspect,  soft  white 
decks  became  torn  and  dented  by  hob-nailed 
boots  and  the  heavy  gear  which  was  hauled  over 
them.  Long  rows  of  depth  charges,  ash-canlike 
cylinders  charged  each  with  three  hundred 
pounds  of  high  explosive  filled  the  graceful 
curve  of  their  fantails.  Squat  "  Y"  guns,  heavy 
mortars  to  discharge  simultaneously  two  depth 
charges,  one  on  either  side  of  the  vessel,  crowded 
the  hand  steering  gear  on  the  after  deck.  Saloon 
windows  repeatedly  shattered  by  heavy  seas  or 


62  On  the  Coast  of  France 

the  detonation  of  the  guns  and  depth  charge  were 
boarded  up.  Below  decks  similar  changes  ap- 
peared in  worn  and  battered  furnishings  re- 
peatedly stained  by  sea  water  straining  through 
leaking  decks. 

A  few  months  after  her  arrival  the  graceful 
bowsprit  of  the  Noma  was  removed  and  an  acci- 
dent later  carried  away  the  head  of  the  golden 
figure-head  on  her  bow.  But  like  She  of  Sam- 
othrace,  the  headless  goddess,  in  a  coat  of 
battle  gray,  braved  to  the  end  each  wave  that 
crashed  over  her  dipping  bow. 

Down  in  the  wide  roadstead  of  the  Gironde 
six  of  the  yachts  were  finally  gathered,  as  one 
by  one  the  destroyers  took  over  the  troop  ship 
convoys  into  the  northern  ports.  But  if  the  safe- 
guarding of  human  lives  was  denied  them,  their 
new  duty  of  the  safe  delivery  of  the  ever  increas- 
ing fleet  of  store  ships  was  of  almost  equal  im- 
portance. Manned  for  the  most  part  by  the 
same  crews  but  officered  largely  by  newcomers 
to  the  force  the;r  arduous,  monotonous,  and  dan- 
gerous work  went  steadily  on. 

Behind  the  white  tower  of  the  lighthouse  at  the 


T3 


a, 
<u 

■ft 

a 
o 


The  Converted  Yachts  63 

entrance  to  the  Gironde  a  great  arm  of  the  land 
holds  back  the  sea  from  the  sheltered  roadstead 
before  Le  Verdon.  To  the  north  of  the  entrance 
the  old  seaport  town  of  Royan  fills  a  hollow  of 
the  shore,  and  on  the  cliff  that  sweeps  seaward 
rise  the  high  white  villas  of  a  fashionable  sum- 
mer colony.  Two  hours  run  up  the  muddy  river 
are  the  wharves  of  Trompeloup,  where  the  great 
naval  air  station  was  established,  and  where  from 
hog-backed  colliers  swinging  hard  to  ebb  or 
flood  in  the  swift  stream,  the  yachts  drew  their 
coal  at  the  end  of  every  run.  Two  or  three  hours 
farther  up  the  river  were  the  great  docks  of 
Bassin  where  the  stout  freighters  discharged 
their  cargoes  and  where  miles  of  American 
tracks  and  hundreds  of  American  cars  assembled 
by  American  mechanics  in  an  American  shop  at 
La  Rochelle,  received  stores  innumerable. 

Still  beyond,  within  sight  of  Bassin,  lies  Bor- 
deaux, fan-shaped,  its  broad  base  against  the 
stone  docks  along  the  south  bank  of  the  river. 
There  were  other  ports  from  which  and  to  which 
the  yachts  escorted  the  merchant  convoys;  but  in 
the  latter  days  of  the  war  the  bulk  of  their  con- 


64  On  the  Coast  of  France 

voy  work  centered  in  the  Gironde.  Fifty  and  a 
hundred  freighters  at  a  single  time  rode  at 
anchor  before  Le  Verdon.  Coal-burners  and 
oil-burners;  ships  of  the  lake  type,  built  in 
states  far  inland  and  launched  in  fresh  water; 
ships  of  standard  design  in  which  all  sense  of 
elegance  or  line  was  subordinated  to  the  grim 
necessities  of  utility,  tramp  steamers,  fruit 
steamers,  and  passenger  vessels  that  once 
touched  southern  ports.  Here  were  ships  from 
all  the  Allied  world ;  from  the  South  American 
republics;  from  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  Japan, 
France,  England,  Sweden,  Norway,  Denmark, 
Russia.  Here  were  ships  flying  the  tricolor  of 
France,  and  most  numerous  of  all  were  the  ships 
that  flew  the  flag  of  the  UNITED  STATES. 

Gray,  battered,  and  still  grimy  with  coal  dust, 
the  yachts  dropped  down  the  river  from  a  weari- 
some night  of  coaling  at  Trompeloup.  Like 
gray  shadows,  they  passed  among  the  freighters 
which,  painted  in  a  wild  nightmare  of  camou- 
flage, seemed  like  honest  and  stolid  citizens  too 
consciously  arrayed  for  some  fancy  carnival. 

Slowly,  with  steam-wreathed  bows,  the  heavy 


The  Converted  Yachts  65 

anchors  of  the  store  ships  were  lifted  from  the 
muddy  bottom  of  the  river  and  they  stood  down 
the  channel  to  the  sea,  hoists  of  signal  flags 
flung  from  diminutive  masts  and  semaphore  sig- 
nalmen waving  madly  from  the  bridges.  Like 
sheep  dogs,  the  yachts  and  the  small  French 
patrol  boats  herded  the  convoy  consisting  usually 
of  from  ten  to  thirty  freighters,  "  in  ballast,"  to 
the  open  sea.  Overhead  the  seaplanes  soared 
like  strange  gray  flying  fish,  too  high  above  their 
native  element,  motors  snarling  and  throbbing 
on  the  wind. 

There  were  bright  days  when  the  harbor 
seemed  a  gay  picture,  and  there  were  all  too 
frequent  days  of  low  gray  clouds  and  a  heavy 
green  sea  beyond  the  bar.  Then  followed  long 
days  and  longer  nights  of  uneventful'  monotony. 
By  day  the  convoys  followed  the  zigzag  course 
prescribed  by  the  escort  commander;  by  night 
the  darkened  ships  held  a  straight  course  unless 
a  moon  and  a  calm  sea  required  a  continuation 
of  the  zigzag. 

Clinging  to  an  open  bridge  in  seas  so  heavy 
that  they  were  constantly  drenched  with  bucket- 


66  On  the  Coast  of  France 

fuls  of  spray  the  officers  of  the  escorting  yachts 
watched  their  plunging  charges  wallow  in  the 
sliding  seas,  now  lost  to  sight  behind  a  cresting 
wave,  now  pitched  high  against  the  sky,  half- 
bared  propellers  churning  the  sea.  There  were 
interminable  nights  of  anxiety  when  the  convoy 
scattered  in  the  blackness  and  four  thousand-ton 
freighters  were  running  wild  in  a  wilder  sea; 
invisible,  ungovernable  leviathans,  careening  far 
out  of  their  courses,  liable  without  warning  to 
loom  out  of  the  darkness  high  above  the  bridge 
of  a  yacht  reeling  on  the  flank  or  in  the  rear  of 
the  convoy.  There  too  were  nights  and  days 
of  fog  and  rain;  opaque  days  and  nights  when 
the  convoy  became  a  nightmare.  And  there 
were  starlit  nights  and  days  of  blue  skies  and 
bluer  seas.  But  the  days  and  nights  of  fog  and 
darkness  held  the  never-to-be-forgotten  hours  of 
hardship. 

All  day  and  night,  unremittingly,  the  eyes  of 
the  watchers  strained  for  a  tell-tale  sign  of  lurk- 
ing submarine,  a  slick  of  oil  along  the  surface 
of  the  sea,  a  trail  of  bubbles,  a  cloud  of  birds 
hovering  above  cast-up   refuse  or  the  fleeting 


The  Converted  Yachts  67 

periscope  caught  for  a  second  and  then  lost 
among  the  waves. 

Two  or  three  days  out  at  sea  the  signals  were 
given  and  the  yachts  and  French  destroyers 
abandoned  the  convoy  to  the  comparative  safety 
of  the  open  sea  and  stood  ofif  to  the  rendezvous 
where  they  would  intercept  the  incoming  laden 
convoy.  Then  at  some  hour  of  night  or  day  the 
contact  would  be  made,  and  several  days  later 
the  shores  of  France  would  again  rise  on  the 
eastern  horizon  and  another  convoy  with  its  al- 
most priceless  cargoes  would  be  carried  in  safety 
to  the  shelter  of  the  harbor. 

But  better  than  a  description  in  general  terms 
of  the  service  performed  by  the  yachts  in  the 
long  months  of  the  war  may  be  a  brief  recount- 
ing of  a  few  instances  of  the  service  which  they 
performed  in  maintaining  intact  "  the  bridge  to 
France."  Spectacular  as  some  of  these  adven- 
tures may  seem,  they  formed  but  incidents  in  a 
dreary  routine,  and  it  is  not  exceeding  truthful 
statement  to  remark  that  these  engagements  and 
disasters  served  to  relieve  a  hardship  which 
otherwise  would  have  been  almost  insufferable 


68  On  the  Coast  of  France 

At  about  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  No- 
vember 5,  19 17,  the  converted  yacht  Alee  do, 
while  proceeding  on  the  starboard  flank  of  a  con- 
voy, bound  from  Brest  to  Saint-Nazaire,  ap- 
proximately seventy  miles  west  of  Belle-Ile, 
sighted  a  submarine  on  the  surface  at  a  distance 
of  about  three  hundred  yards  on  the  port  bo\y. 
The  Alcedo  turned  with  full  right-rudder,  but 
was  struck  by  the  torpedo  on  the  port  bow  and 
sank  almost  immediately.  One  officer  and 
twenty  men  were  killed  or  drowned  in  the  dis- 
aster. Due  to  the  suddenness  of  the  attack  and 
the  darkness  of  the  night,  the  other  escorting 
vessels  were  for  a  time  ignorant  of  the  Alee  Jo's 
fate  and  proceeded  with  the  convoy.  Putting 
off  from  the  sinking  ship  in  two  dories,  three 
officers  and  twenty-five  men  were  picked  up  by 
fishermen  and  towed  to  the  vicinity  of  Pte. 
de  Penmarch.  The  remaining  survivors  in  a 
whaleboat  and  two  dories  pulled  toward  Pen- 
march,  and  thirteen  hours  later  were  picked  up 
by  the  French  torpedo  boat  No.  275  and  were 
taken  into  Brest. 

The  reports  from  all  concerned  indicate  thai 


The  Converted  Yachts  69 

the  action  of  the  officers  and  crew  of  the  Alcedo, 
upheld  the  finest  traditions  of  the  service.  The 
following  letter  was  received  by  Rear-Admiral 
Wilson,  from  Vice-Admiral  Schwerer,  Com- 
mandant Superieur  des  Petrouilles  de  UOcean 
de  la  Mane  he  Centrale: 

In  the  name  of  the  entire  personnel  of  the  patrol  squadrons  of 
the  Channel,  I  seek  to  express  to  you  the  regret  which  we  feel  on 
account  of  the  loss  of  that  good  patrol  ship  the  Alcedo  and  our 
brave  comrades  who  have  disappeared  with  that  ship. 

They  have  joined  in  the  struggle  which  we  are  waging  together 
for  the  victory  of  right  and  humanity  and  their  deaths  will  go  far 
toward  drawing  closer  the  bonds  which  unite  our  two  naval  forces. 

We  shall  cherish  their  memory  and  shall  strive  to  avenge  them. 

Please  accept  my  dear  Admiral,  my  sympathy  and  my  most 
cordial  good  wishes. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  November,  19 17,  the 
yachts  Kanawha,  Noma,  and  Wakiva  were  pro- 
ceeding with  a  convoy  consisting  of  the  S.  S. 
Koln  and  S.  S.  Medina.  The  convdy  had  sailed 
from  Quiberon  in  the  afternoon  and  were  fol- 
lowing the  prescribed  zigzag  and  formation.  At 
6:  20  P.M.  the  lookout  on  the  Kanawha  reported 
a  periscope  on  the  port  beam,  very  close  and 
headed  for  the  Medina.  The  Kanawha  made 
the  necessary  signals,  went  full  speed  ahead  and 
turned    left-rudder    in    the    direction    of    the 


70  On  the  Coast  of  France 

submarine.  Immediately  the  submarine  sub- 
merged, search  by  all  three  vessels  of  the  escort 
failed  to  locate  it  and  signals  were  accordingly 
made  for  the  convoy  to  reform  and  proceed.  At 
6:  50  P.M.  the  Noma  sighted  a  periscope  on  her 
starboard  beam,  apparently  steaming  to  the 
northward.  She  immediately  made  signal  and 
swung  with  right-rudder,  at  the  same  time  re- 
leasing two  depth  charges.  Twelve  minutes 
later  the  Wakiva  again  sighted  a  periscope,  this 
time  at  a  distance  of  not  more  than  a  hundred 
yards.  The  submarine  drew  rapidly  aft  and  w|is 
apparently  steaming  toward  the  convoy,  but 
quickly  appeared  to  swing  in  order  to  bring  to 
bear  a  bow  tube  on  the  Wakiva.  The  Wakiva 
turned  promptly  with  left-rudder,  forcing  the 
submarine  to  cross  her  wake,  and  at  the  same 
time  fired  three  shots  from  the  port  aft  gun, 
the  third  shot  apparently  striking  the  periscope. 
Shortly  after  she  also  released  two  depth  charges, 
both  of  which  functioned.  A  minute  later  the 
conning-tower  of  the  submarine  emerged  and 
the  Wakiva  opened  fire  with  her  starboard  for- 
ward gun,   the  second  shot  detonating.     The 


The  Converted  Yachts  71 

conning  tower  immediately  sank,  and  as  the 
JVakiva  passed  over  the  spot  a  large  number 
of  air  bubbles  were  seen  coming  to  the  surface, 
and  a  quantity  of  wreckage  also  appeared.  The 
Wakiva  promptly  let  go  two  more  depth  charges 
on  the  spot,  and,  turning,  again  passed  near  the 
spot,  when  her  commanding  officer  thought  he 
saw  the  shapes  of  three  men  clinging  to  a  piece 
of  wreckage  and  hailed  them  but  received  no 
answer.  On  passing  near  the  place  a  fourth  time 
the  men  had  disappeared. 

Meanwhile  the  Noma  continued  her  search 
and  at  midnight,  sighting  a  periscope  on  her 
starboard  bow,  turned  toward  it  and  passing  over 
it,  let  go  a  number  of  depth  charges  but  with  no 
results. 

From  the  evidence,  it  appears  that  two  sub- 
marines were  preparing  to  attack  the  convoy 
and  that  one  of  these  was  destroyed  by  the 
Wakiva.  This  is  further  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  about  8:45  P.M.  the  radio  operator  on  the 
Noma  heard  a  vessel  sending  in  German  code 
with  low  power  and  apparently  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity.     The  vessel  called  three  times, 


72  On  the  Coast  of  France 

sending  the  same  message  each  time  without 
waiting  for  a  reply.  The  sea  was  smooth 
throughout  the  action  and  the  moon  was  shining 
dimly  through  a  slightly  overcast  sky. 

On  the  twenty-third  of  December,  1917,  the 
Norwegian  S.  S.  Spro,  of  about  1,500  tons  gross, 
loaded  with  coal,  was  proceeding  from  Cardiff 
to  La  Palice.  At  Brest,  she  joined  a  south- 
bound convoy  which  was  proceeding  to  Quib- 
eron. 

This  convoy  consisted  of  five  vessels,  the  Spro 
being  No.  4.  The  last  ship,  a  small  French 
steamer,  was  well  in  the  rear.  The  yaghts 
Sultana  and  Emeline  formed  the  escort  and  were 
proceeding  on  either  flank  of  the  convoy. 

The  sea  was  comparatively  smooth  and  the 
moon  had  risen  about  one  point  on  the  starboard 
quarter  in  a  slightly  clouded  sky.  Suddenly  the 
officer  of  the  deck  of  the  Emeline  felt  a  pro- 
nounced jar  passing  through  the  ship,  similar  to 
that  caused  when  a  gun  is  fired  from  the  deck. 
At  the  same  instant  a  black  column  of  water 
and  debris  rose  high  above  the  masts  of  the  Spro, 
In  less  than  a  minute  the  stern  of  the  Spro  sank 


The  Converted  Yachts  73 

beneath  the  surface  of  the  sea,  and  in  another 
minute  and  a  half  the  vessel  entirely  disap- 
peared, leaving  a  mass  of  wreckage  floating  in 
a  heavy  oil  slick.  At  the  same  time,  a  dark 
object  was  observed  about  a  hundred  yards  be- 
yond the  Emeline,  to  port  of  the  column  and  to 
windward,  and  a  pronounced  odor  of  exhaust 
gases  was  perceptible  on  the  breeze.  The  Eme- 
line headed  directly  for  the  object  but  it  quickly 
disappeared.  A  boat  was  then  launched  in  an- 
swer to  the  cries  of  the  men  swimming  in  the 
water,  and  the  Emeline  circled  about  the 
spot  where  the  Spro  had  gone  down.  Eight 
men  cleared  the  ship,  one  of  whom  was  not 
recovered. 

On  the  fifth  of  January,  19 18,  a  convoy  of 
fifteen  ships  left  Brest  for  Quiberon,  escorted 
by  two  American  yachts,  the  Wanderer  and  the 
Kanawha.  The  convoy  was  formed  in  two 
parts,  the  S.  S.  Luckenbach  being  No.  i  in  the 
right  column.  The  S.  S.  Le  Cour,  S.  S.  Dagny 
and  S.  S.  Kanaris  being  Nos.  i,  4,  and  7  respec- 
tively in  the  left  column.  At  about  1 1 :  30  A.M. 
when  approximately  eight  miles  west  of  Pen- 


74  On  the  Coast  of  France 

march,  the  lookout  at  the  port  cathead  of  the 
Le  Cour  saw  a  torpedo  jump  out  of  the  water. 
A  second  later  the  torpedo  struck  the  ship  abreast 
No.  4  hatch  and  the  Le  Cour  sank  in  forty-five 
seconds.  Half  an  hour  later,  a  torpedo  struck 
the  Luckenbach,  the  force  of  the  explosion 
throwing  several  men  into  the  sea.  The  JVan- 
derer  which  was  nearest  by  saved  twenty-five 
members  of  the  crew  and  remained  in  the  vicin- 
ity for  several  hours,  but  no  trace  of  the  sub- 
marine could  be  found.  At  a  quarter  past  one  in 
the  morning  the  captain  of  the  Dagny  sighted  a 
submarine  to  the  starboard.  He  immediately 
began  to  zigzag,  blew  his  whistle  and  fired  two 
lights  to  attract  attention.  Ten  minutes  later 
the  ship  was  struck  on  the  starboard  side  and 
sank  in  about  two  minutes.  At  two  o'clock  the 
guns'  crew  on  watch  on  the  stern  gun  of  the 
Kanaris  saw  the  wake  of  a  torpedo  about  45° 
to  starboard.  The  Kanaris  was  struck  on  the 
starboard  bow  and  sank  rapidly. 

The  following  letter  was  received  by  Lieu- 
tenant-Commander P.  L.  Wilson,  commanding 
officer  of  the  Wanderer: 


The  Converted  Yachts  75 

From:     Commander  U.  S.  Naval  Forces  in  France. 
To:     Commanding  Officer,  U.  S.  S.   Wanderer. 

SUBJECT:  Officers  and  men  U.  S.  S.  Wanderer,  manner  of 
performance. 

1.  The  Commander  U.  S.  Naval  Forces  in  France  congratulates 
the  Commanding  Officer  U.  S.  S.  Wanderer  for  the  able  manner  in 
which  the  officers  and  men  under  his  comjmand  performed  their 
duty  under  very  trying  circumstances  in  the  presence  of  the  enemy, 
upon  the  occasion  of  the  sinking  of  the  S.  S.  Harry  Luckenbach, 
sunk  by  enemy  submarines  on  the  night  of  January  5-6,  1918. 

(Signed)  H.  B.  WlLsoN. 


About  a  mile  east  of  Pte.  du  Talut  is  a  low- 
lying  reef  which  offers  a  constant  danger  to  navi- 
gation. On  the  twenty-seventh  of  January,  191 8, 
a  dense  fog  covered  the  water.  The  Guinevere 
was  returning  from  Quiberon,  and  was  proceed- 
ing at  a  speed  of  about  nine  knots,  with  the  com- 
manding officer  and  a  French  pilot  on  the  bridge, 
when  she  suddenly  struck  the  reef  tearing  her 
bottom  so  badly  that  within  two  hours  her  deck 
was  under  water  and  the  high  swells  were  caus- 
ing her  to  pound  heavily  on  the  reef,  threaten- 
ing her  complete  destruction.  The  ship  was  ac- 
cordingly abandoned,  as  it  was  seen  that  the 
case  was  hopeless,  and  later  investigation  proved 
the  impossibility  of  salvaging  her.  Today  a  torn 
hull  lies  in  French  waters,  a  mute  reminder  of 


76  On  the  Coast  of  France 

the  activities  of  an  American  pleasure  yacht  in 
her  strange  mission  of  war. 

On  May  21,  1918,  the  Christabel  sighted  a 
periscope  on  the  starboard  beam  at  a  distance 
of  about  three  hundred  yards.  The  crew  im- 
mediately went  to  ^^ general  quarters"  and  a 
number  of  depth  charges  were  dropped,  set  at  a 
depth  of  seventy  feet.  Following  the  explosion 
of  the  second  charge  there  was  a  violent  third 
explosion  which  sent  up  an  enormous  quantity 
of  water.  This  explosion  was  distinct  from  the 
usual  double  shock  felt  when  the  explosive  force 
of  a  depth  charge  reaches  the  surface.  Imme- 
diately afterward  the  Christabel  crossed  over  the 
spot  and  found  the  surface  for  an  area  of  a 
hundred  feet  in  diameter  covered  with  large  air 
bubbles,  much  heavy  black  oil  and  quantities  of 
splintered  pieces  of  wood,  evidence  of  the  de- 
struction of  another  enemy  submarine. 

The  third  of  the  yachts  to  meet  her  fate  was 
the  Wakiva.  On  May  22,  19 18,  she  was  proceed- 
ing with  a  Le  Verdon  convoy.  A  heavy  fog  cov- 
ered the  sea,  and  due  to  a  confusion  of  signals 
resulting   from   the  poor  visibility,   the   S.    S. 


Picking  up  a  lifeboat  in  the  Bay  of  Biscay 


Picking   up   a   lifeboat   from   a   torpedoed   ship — four    dead   men 
were  in  the  partly  swamped  boat 


The   Westzvard  Ho  being  towed  into  Brest  with  only  one 
per  cent  floatability 


The  Converted  Yachts  77 

Wabash  made  an  unexpected  change  in  course 
and  rammed  the  Wakiva.  The  yacht  sank 
rapidly  and  the  Wakiva  s  officers  and  crew  were 
picked  up  by  the  Wabash,  which  vessel  returned 
with  them  under  escort  of  the  Isabel  to  Quiberon. 

On  the  same  day  while  escorting  a  north- 
bound coastal  convoy,  the  Christabel  detected  a 
wake  about  three  hundred  yards  from  the  con- 
voy and  running  parallel  to  it.  The  Christabel 
promptly  steamed  across  the  wake  dropping  a 
number  of  depth  charges.  About  three  hours 
later  a  submarine  appeared  near  the  convoy  and 
the  Christabel  again  steamed  toward  it,  and  as 
the  submarine  promptly  submerged,  crossed  over 
the  spot  and  dropped  two  more  depth  charges, 
both  charges  functioning.  The  first  charge 
brought  up  only  clear  water,  but  the  second 
brought  up  heavy  oil  bubbles  and  parts  of  heavy 
wood  and  debris.  Following  the  second  depth 
charge,  an  explosion  was  detected  beneath  the 
surface,  which  was  doubtlessly  a  mine  or  torpedo 
in  the  submarine  detonated  by  the  concussion 
of  the  second  depth  charge. 

The  U.  S.  S.  A.  C.  T.  Westward  Ho,  when 


78  On  the  Coast  of  France 

about  three  hundred  miles  off  the  French 
coast  on  the  eighth  of  August,  was  torpe- 
doed. Replying  promptly  to  an  ^'AUo"  the 
destroyers  Conner,  Roe,  and  Ericsson,  started 
to  the  rescue  and  reaching  her  in  a  few  hours, 
took  off  surviving  members  of  the  crew.  The 
Westward  Ho  was  apparently  in  a  sinking 
condition  and  as  the  destroyers  had  to  pro- 
ceed on  their  duties  as  convoy  escorts  she 
was  abandoned.  The  Westward  Ho,  however, 
remained  afloat  during  the  night  and  at  four 
o'clock  the  following  morning  was  discovered  by 
the  yacht  Noma.  After  investigating  her  condi- 
tion the  Noma  put  a  salvage  crew  on  board,  and 
a  little  later  the  yacht  May  and  the  French  tor- 
pedo boat  Cassioppee  having  come  up,  the  West- 
ward Ho  was  taken  in  tow.  Due  to  the  fact  that 
she  was  apparently  sinking  by  the  head  she  was 
taken  in  tow  stern  first  by  the  two  yachts  and  the 
torpedo  boat  and  a  start  was  made  for  the  French 
coast.  At  about  2  P.M.  the  British  tugs  Epic  and 
Woonda  joined  up  and  relieved  the  yachts  and 
torpedo  boats.  Due  primarily  to  the  efforts  and 
ingenuity  of  the  engineer  officer  of  the  Noma, 


The  Converted  Yachts  79 

Steam  was  started  in  the  boilers  of  the  Westward 
Ho,  and  at  4  P.M.  with  reversed  engines  she  was 
started  backing  at  good  speed.  At  six  o'clock  on 
the  morning  of  August  10,  the  Concord  and  the 
French  torpedo  boat  Glaive  joined  up  and  the 
Concord  passed  a  third  tow  line.  In  this  man- 
ner the  convoy  proceeded  to  Brest  where  they 
arrived  at  six  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  August 
II,  a  distance  of  31^  miles.  The  cargo  of  the 
Westward  Ho  was  extremely  valuable  and  of  an 
important  character,  and  her  salvage  under  these 
most  extraordinary  conditions  reflected  great 
credit  on  all  of  the  rescuing  ships  concerned. 
The  cargo  consisted  chiefly  of  aeroplanes,  field 
artillery  parts,  rifles,  machine  guns,  ammuni- 
tion, and  large  quantities  of  grain  and  hay. 

In  forwarding  the  officers'  reports  concerning 
the  salvage  of  the  Westward  Ho,  the  Com- 
mander United  States  Naval  Forces  in  France 
commented  in  part  as  follows: 

No  criticism  is  made  of  the  master  of  the  Westivard  Ho  for 
having  abandoned  his  vessel,  inasmuch  as  her  condition  was  be- 
lieved to  be  desperate  and  the  destroyers  which  rescued  her  crew 
were  required  for  duty  with  troop  transports  and  could  not  remain 
in  the  vicinity. 

The  salvage  of  the  vessel  was  a  splendid  feat  of  seamanship. 


8o  On  the  Coast  of  France 

The  party  from  the  U.  S.  S.  May  and  U.  S.  S.  Noma,  under  the 
direction  of  Lieutenant  Thomas  Blau,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F.,  boarded  the 
vessel,  raised  steam,  pumped  compartments  adjacent  to  No.  i  hold 
and  started  the  ship's  propelling  plant.  The  vessel  was  taken  in 
tow  by  the  U.  S.  S.  May  and  Cassioppee  and  subsequently  by  tugs 
which  had  been  dispatched  from  Scilly  Islands  and  from  Brest. 
With  the  assistance  of  her  engines  she  was  towed  stern  first  for 
a  distance  of  315  miles. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  Navy  Department  address  letters  of 
commendation  to  the  following  officers,  who  participated  in  this 
enterprise : 

Lieutenant-Commander  C.  C.  Windsor,  U.  S.  N.,  commanding 

U.  S.  S.  May,  (Senior  officer  present) ; 
Lieutenant  H.  H.  J.  Benson,  U.  S.  N.  commanding  U.  S.  S. 

Noma; 
Lieutenant  Thomas  Blau,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F.,  and 
Lieutenant  (j.  g.)  W*  R.  Knight,  U.  S.  N.  R.  F.,  who  took 

charge  of  the  machinery  part  of  the  vessel. 

Another  aspect  of  the  hardships  encountered 
by  the  yachts  in  their  convoy  service  may  be 
taken  from  the  log  of  a  single  trip  of  the  Noma. 
While  proceeding  to  a  rendezvous  she  encoun- 
tered a  severe  northerly  blow  and  the  seas  which 
were  unusually  short  made  it  difficult  for  the 
yacht  to  take  them  with  ease.  She  proceeded  to 
the  rendezvous,  however,  when  she  slowed  down, 
and  soon  after,  a  heavy  sea  on  her  bow  smashed 
in  the  forward  skylight,  causing  a  considerable 
amount  of  water  to  leak  through  to  the  lower 
deck.  The  same  sea  also  caused  the  forward 
deck  houses  to  work  considerably.     An  hour 


The  Converted  Yachts  8 1 

later  while  running  with  the  sea  abeam,  at  a 
speed  of  about  five  knots  in  search  for  the  convoy 
another  heavy  sea  struck  the  starboard  side  dent- 
ing it  and  bending  four  frames;  the  same  sea 
carried  away  a  davit  and  part  of  the  gunwale. 
Returning  to  port,  having  met  the  convoy,  the 
Noma  began  to  roll  deeply,  the  sea  being  abaft 
the  port  beam,  and  the  second  lifeboat's  strong- 
back  was  carried  away.  By  this  time  the  entire 
main  deck  had  begun  to  work  and  the  deck  below 
the  main  deck  was  wet  from  stem  to  stern,  of- 
ficers' rooms  and  the  crew's  living  quarters  were 
thoroughly  drenched  and  all  of  the  bedding  was 
wet. 

It  was  hard  work;  long  were  the  hours  and 
brief  the  respite.  Little  has  been  told  of  the 
merchant  convoys,  for  theirs  was  a  work  that 
required  secrecy  of  movements,  and  secrecy 
shrouded  the  wearisome  voyages.  Only  at  rare 
intervals  was  the  story  of  some  sinking  told  by 
the  crowded  press.  But  for  the  most  part  the 
incidents  of  their  story  were  incidents  of  negative 
action  rather  than  of  active  deed.  Armed  with 
the  dreaded  depth  charges  the  yacHts  reduced 


82  On  the  Coast  of  France 

the  submarine  warfare  against  our  merchant 
shipping  to  a  degree  that  rendered  its  effect  neg- 
ligible in  comparison  with  the  vast  operations 
which  were  carried  through.  In  the  coastwise 
convoys  there  were  more  frequent  losses,  but 
here  a  smaller  individual  tonnage  offset  the 
losses  incurred.  Without  exaggeration  it  may 
be  truly  said  that  had  it  not  been  for  the  yachts 
and  the  few  destroyers  which  aided  them  in  the 
escort  duty  of  the  store  ships,  the  German  scheme 
of  submarine  warfare  would  have  succeeded  to  a 
degree  that  would  have  rendered  impossible  the 
maintenance  for  a  single  week  of  our  Army  on 
the  soil  of  France.  And  at  the  same  time  it  must 
be  added,  that  without  the  destroyers,  and  in  the 
earlier  days  of  the  war  the  yachts  as  well,  the 
activities  of  the  German  submarines  would  have 
rendered  wholly  impossible  the  transportation 
of  our  Army  across  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  DESTROYERS 

IN  THE  first  days  of  the  United  States  naval 
activities  in  French  waters,  it  v^ill  be  re- 
called that  the  duty  of  escorting  both  troop  and 
store  ships  fell  to  the  converted  yachts.  With 
the  advent  of  the  destroyers,  the  system  v^as  al- 
tered; and,  as  the  number  of  destroyers  was  in- 
creased, the  yachts  were  gradually  withdrawn 
from  the  troop  convoys  and  detailed  to  the  more 
southern  ports  to  act  as  escorts  to  coastwise  con- 
voys and  to  the  great  transatlantic  convoys  of 
store  ships  which  centered  at  the  Gironde  River. 
Later,  as  the  destroyer  fleet  was  materially  aug- 
mented, a  number  of  smaller  coal-burning  tor- 
pedo boats  were  assigned  to  duty  with  the  yachts, 
considerably  strengthening  their  force  and  com- 
pensating for  the  yachts  which  had  been  lost  or 
from  their  months  of  hard  service  had  so  deterio- 

83 


84  On  the  Coast  of  France 

rated  that  their  usefulness  was  seriously  im- 
paired. 

The  destroyers  were  ideally  suited  for  the  im- 
portant work  of  escorting  the  troop  convoys. 
Possessing  the  invaluable  qualities  of  high  speed, 
practical  armament,  and  seaworthiness,  they 
were  able  to  cope  with  every  emergency  and 
meet  the  submarine  on  a  basis  on  which  the 
result  was  certain  to  terminate,  in  the  large 
majority  of  instances,  in  their  favor. 

Within  the  breakwater,  which  shelters  the 
inner  harbor  of  Brest,  the  destroyers  swung  from 
buoys,  moored  together  in  clusters,  great  rafts  of 
slender  steel  hulls  above  which  lifted  a  tangle 
of  slim  masts  and  wireless  antenna.  Painted  in 
fantastic  camouflage  and  swarming  with  crews 
which  averaged  more  than  a  hundred  men,  the 
destroyer  flotilla  that  was  based  in  the  busy  har- 
bor afforded  a  constant  picture  of  absorbing 
interest  and  vitality. 

A  convoy  is  to  leave  at  2  P.M.  and  the  Benham 
casts  off  from  the  destroyers  lying  on  either  side 
of  her  and  backs  swiftly  out  into  the  open  water. 
Sensitive  and  alert,  she  turns  sharply,  as  her  en- 


Torpedo  tubes  on  destroyer  Benham 


^ 

r^^ 

M 

n 

1  f • .  i  J 

r      m 

Four-inch  gun  crew  on  destroyer  Benham 


The  Destroyers  85 


gines  shoot  her  ahead,  and  with  a  white  curve 
of  water,  knifed  up  on  either  side  of  her  chisel 
bow,  she  steams  rapidly  through  the  narrow  en- 
trance. In  the  wide  reaches  of  the  outer  harbor, 
a  convoy  of  camouflaged  liners  are  lifting  their 
anchors,  homeward  bound.  Slowly  they  stand 
down  the  channel  between  the  cliffs,  the  Ben- 
ham  and  the  other  destroyers  of  the  escort  loafing 
leisurely  beside  them.  Outside,  standard  speed 
is  set  and  the  convoy  heads  for  the  open  sea. 

There  is  no  motion  on  land  or  sea  comparable 
to  that  of  a  destroyer.  Rolling  often  in  five- 
second  jerks  at  an  angle  sometimes  over  50°, 
there  is  combined  with  the  roll,  a  quick  and  vio- 
lent pitching  which  produces  a  sensation  without 
parallel  on  any  other  type  of  vessel.  To  those 
familiar  with  the  great  buildings  in  our  larger 
cities,  this  pitching  movement  of  a  destroyer 
may  be  compared  with  the  abrupt  starting  and 
stopping  of  an  elevator  operating  at  high  speed; 
a  sudden  sinking,  in  which  the  deck  seems  to 
drop  away  beneath  the  feet  and  then  an  abrupt 
upheaving  motion,  almost  before  equilibrium 
can  be  regained. 


86  On  the  Coast  of  France 

Like  maddened  switchback  cars,  the  de- 
stroyers gyrate  in  the  slightest  sea.  Grimy  with 
soot  of  fuel  oil,  reeking  with  oil  gasses,  they 
reel  and  plunge  at  express-train  speed.  The 
officers  and  men  on  the  bridge,  half  choked  with 
frequent  back  drafts  of  gaseous  oil  smoke,  and 
the  reek  from  the  "Charley  Noble"  (galley 
smokestack),  peer  ahead  through  a  blizzard  of 
flying  spray.  In  the  wardroom,  the  colored  mess 
attendants  balance  like  acrobats  and  with  the  ex- 
pertness  of  long  experience,  perform  almost  im- 
possible feats  of  juggling  with  plates  and  glasses. 
Few  are  the  days  when  meals  can  be  served  even 
with  racks  on  the  tables.  It  is  a  hand  to  mouth 
existence,  a  catch-as-catch-can  game  in  which 
the  galley  challenges  the  sea  and  the  sea  usually 
holds  the  cards.  Even  personal  cleanliness  be- 
comes impossible  in  an  unstable  world,  where 
water  will  invariably  find  its  level  when  the 
wash  bowl  slants  at  45°  or  50°.  Chairs  are 
lashed  to  the  bulkheads,  and  by  night  or  day, 
when  opportunity  offers,  officers  and  men  roll 
into  troubled  bunks  fully  dressed,  ready  at  a 
moment's  notice  to  appear  on  deck. 


The  Destroyers  87 


Within  the  three-eighths-inch  steel  hull,  the 
great  turbines,  with  the  horsepower  of  a  battle- 
ship, throb  and  spin,  driving  the  whirling  screws. 
There  is  not  a  foot  of  wasted  space.  In  a  swing- 
ing and  bucking  world,  crammed  like  a  watch 
case  with  a  maze  of  machinery,  the  engineering 
crew  moves  like  magicians  in  a  world  of  steel 
and  steam.  Everything  is  steel.  Everywhere 
is  the  smell  of  oil;  the  ship  is  greased  with  it. 
And  day  and  night,  rolling,  pitching,  slamming 
over,  through  or  under  the  heavy  seas,  the  de- 
stroyers brought  in  the  convoys,  meeting  them 
on  some  square  mile  of  Atlantic,  in  the  reek  of 
fog  or  the  blackness  of  night,  with  unerring 
mathematical  precision. 

There  was  a  strange  emotion  that  came  to 
more  than  a  few  of  our  sea-borne  soldiers  when 
from  some  high  deck  on  a  stormy  morning,  they 
first  saw  the  destroyer  escort  shaking  the  great 
green  seas  in  clouds  of  spray  from  their  swaying 
bows.  On  these  sea-whippets  lived  men  in  dun- 
garees and  rubber  boots  who  met  the  sea  and 
mastered  it;  men  who  lived  in  oil  and  spray, 
continuously  balanced  in  a  mad  unstable  world. 


88  On  the  Coast  of  France 

and  of  greatest  importance  in  the  eyes  of  the  men 
who  watched  from  the  transport's  decks,  was 
the  protective  part  in  the  great  game  of  war  that 
the  destroyer  stood  ready  day  and  night  to  play. 
To  cast  loose  the  depth  charges,  to  man  the 
guns,  to  ram  the  submarine  if  possible;  these 
were  the  ultimate  purposes  of  the  destroyer  es- 
cort. And  so  thoroughly  did  they  perform  their 
untiring  service  that  our  army  was  carried  in  its 
vast  entirety  to  its  mission  beyond  the  seas  and 
landed  safely  on  the  soil  of  France.  In  this 
anti-submarine  warfare  the  depth  charges 
proved  to  be  the  most  efficient  deterrent  to  sub- 
marine activity.  In  appearance  a  cylinder  about 
two  feet  in  diameter  and  about  three  feet  in 
height,  each  charge  contained  three  hundred 
pounds  of  high  explosive  and  a  hydrostatic  ap- 
paratus by  which  the  explosive  was  detonated 
which  could  be  set  for  any  depth  from  50  to  250 
feet,  the  force  of  the  explosion  over  an  area  of 
140  feet  in  diameter  being  sufficient  to  destroy 
the  submarine  or  force  it,  injured,  to  come  to  the 
surface.  On  sighting  a  submarine,  or  locating 
it  by  any  of  the  tell-tale  indications  of  its  pres- 


The  Destroyers  89 


ence,  such  as  oil  slicks,  or  a  wake  of  bubbles,  the 
practice  was  immediately  to  drop  a  buoy,  mark- 
ing the  spot  and  then  to  proceed  on  a  widening 
circle  from  this  point,  dropping  a  barrage  of 
depth  charges  in  rapid  succession  covering  the 
entire  area  ahead,  behind  and  on  either  side  of 
the  submarine,  thus  anticipating  its  movements 
of  escape  in  any  direction. 

But  there  is  no  general  description  of  the  work 
of  the  destroyers  that  can  briefly  convey  an  im- 
pression of  their  labors  so  well  as  a  few  specific 
incidents  of  the  anti-submarine  warfare  waged 
by  them  in  the  historic  waters  of  the  French 
coast  during  the  long  months  of  war.  It  is  im- 
possible to  recount  all  the  engagements  which 
occurred;  it  is  even  more  impossible  to  describe 
the  long  periods  when  no  break  relieved  the 
grind  of  routine  duty  at  sea.  Day  and  night, 
month  after  month,  they  kept  their  flags  flying. 
Their  whole  story,  which  may  some  day  be  told, 
is  a  narrative  of  arduous  duty  conscientiously 
performed. 

On  August  9,  1918,  the  Tucker,  while  leading 
a  column  of  ten  destroyers,  sighted  a  periscope 


90  On  the  Coast  of  France 

on  her  port  bow  at  a  distance  of  eight  hundred 
yards  and  gave  chase.  The  submarine  dived  and 
the  Tucker,  going  ahead  at  full  speed,  dropped 
two  depth  charges  about  two  hundred  yards 
beyond  the  point  of  submergence.  She  then 
dropped  fourteen  charges  in  a  circle,  when  the 
bow  of  the  submarine  broached  and  the  Tucker 
opened  fire  with  four  blunt-nosed  shells,  two  of 
which  scored  hits.  The  submarine  then  sub- 
merged and  the  Tucker  passed  directly  over  the 
spot,  sighting  her  at  a  depth  of  twenty  feet  and 
dropped  two  charges  directly  on  her.  A  few 
minutes  later  oil  appeared  on  the  surface  of  the 
water  and  it  was  believed,  with  reason,  that  the 
submarine  was  destroyed. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  April,  1918,  a  south- 
bound coastal  convoy  was  proceeding  slowly  off 
Penmarch  with  the  Stewart  acting  as  escort. 
About  two  miles  to  seaward  of  the  convoy's  posi- 
tion, two  American  naval  avions  were  seen  drop- 
ping bombs.  The  Stewart  immediately  left  the 
escort  and  proceeded  at  full  speed  to  the  spot  in- 
dicated by  the  avions,  where  she  was  joined  by 
a  French  destroyer  coming  from  the  northward. 


The  Destroyers  91 


One  avion  heading  directly  toward  the  Stewart, 
dropped  a  buoy  and  the  observer  pointed  with 
his  arm  in  the  direction  of  the  submarine.  The 
sea  was  smooth,  with  a  slight  swell  and  a  clear 
and  distinct  wake  could  be  seen,  with  an  object 
just  breaking  the  surface  at  the  end  of  the  wake. 
The  Stewart  headed  directly  for  the  object  and 
followed  it  to  seaward,  but  the  wake  suddenly 
changed  its  direction  as  the  object  turned  at 
right-angles  to  its  original  course.  One  of  the 
avions  promptly  circled  and  dropped  a  smoke 
bomb  near  the  new  position  of  the  object  which 
had  now  submerged  but  was  still  visible  in  the 
clear  water  from  the  bridge  of  the  Stewart.  The 
Stewart  passed  within  fifty  feet  and  dropped 
two  depth  charges  in  rapid  succession  each  one 
bringing  up  a  column  of  water  darkened  with 
a  heavy  oil  which  spread  rapidly  over  the  sur- 
face. For  a  time  after  the  explosion,  the  water 
in  the  vicinity  was  streaked  with  a  thick  red  sub- 
stance, the  nature  of  which  could  not  be  de- 
termined. The  depth  charges  were  dropped  so 
close  to  the  submarine,  one  on  each  side  and 
within  fifty  feet  of  it  and  the  force  of  the  ex- 


92  On  the  Coast  of  France 

plosion  was  so  great  that  it  seems  impossible  that 
the  submarine  could  have  survived. 

One  of  the  many  instances  of  timely  interfer- 
ence of  an  American  destroyer,  v^hich  by  its 
presence  undoubtedly  saved  an  attacked  ship, 
occurred  on  the  nineteenth  of  October,  19 17. 
The  American  steamer  J.  L.  Luckenbach  was 
about  two  hundred  miles  west  of  Brest  when  the 
lookout  sighted  a  suspicious  ship  about  five  miles 
on  the  port  beam  and  the  captain  immediately 
changed  his  course  to  put  the  supposed  enemy 
astern.  At  a  distance  of  about  eleven  hundred 
meters  the  ship,  which  soon  proved  to  be  a  sub- 
marine, opened  fire,  keeping,  however,  well  out 
of  reach  of  the  Luckenbach^s  guns.  For  a  con- 
siderable period  heavy  firing  was  maintained  by 
both  vessels,  the  submarine  endeavoring  by  her 
fire  to  keep  the  Luckenbach  at  a  distance  and  to 
maneuver  herself  into  a  position  from  which  she 
might  fire  a  torpedo.  Meanwhile  the  Lucken- 
bach attempted  to  prevent  the  submarine  taking 
this  action.  About  two  hundred  shells  were  fired 
by  each  ship,  seven  of  the  enemy's  striking  the 
Luckenbach,  At  the  beginning  of  the  encouater. 


The  Destroyers  93 


the  Luckenbach  sent  an  "Alio  "  by  radio  which 
was  picked  up  by  the  American  destroyer 
Nicholson  (then  attached  to  the  United  States 
squadron  based  at  Queenstown),  who  responded 
that  she  was  on  her  way.  About  the  middle  of 
the  engagement,  the  Nicholson  sent  a  new  signal 
saying,  "I  am  coming;  make  all  possible  smoke 
to  make  yourself  visible."  Shortly  after,  a  shell 
struck  the  mount  of  the  after  gun  of  the  Lucken- 
bach forcing  the  captain  to  turn  the  ship  to  the 
left  in  order  to  use  his  forward  gun.  At  the  end 
of  two  hours'  engagement,  a  shell  from  the  sub- 
marine struck  the  Luckenbach,  damaging  the  en- 
gines, cutting  the  smokestack  and  forcing  the 
vessel  to  stop.  But  an  hour  later,  the  Nicholson 
appeared  over  the  horizon  and  as  she  neared, 
fired  four  shots  at  the  submarine  which  sub- 
merged and  disappeared.  After  temporary  re- 
pairs, the  Luckenbach  continued  her  way  and 
reached  Le  Havre,  leaking  badly  and  with  a  fire 
in  the  crew's  quarters. 

At  9:45  A.M.  on  the  thirty-first  of  May,  191 8, 
the  U.  S.  S.  President  Lincoln  was  torpedoed 
and  sunk.    On  the  first  intimation  of  disaster, 


94  On  the  Coast  of  France 

calls  were  sent  out  to  the  destroyers  who  pro- 
ceeded promptly  to  the  rescue  of  the  survivors, 
the  Warrington  being  the  first  one  to  arrive, 
reaching  the  spot  at  u  :oi;  A.M.  Shortly  after, 
the,  Smith  appeared  above  the  horizon  and  joined 
the  Warrington,  There  were  twelve  boat  loads 
of  survivors  and  a  number  of  life  rafts. 

A  moderate  swell  was  running  but  no  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  effecting  the  rescue. 
The  officers  and  men  of  both  the  Warrington  and 
Smith  showed  great  devotion  to  duty  and  initia- 
tive in  handling  a  very  difficult  and  unusual 
situation,  particularly  in  rescuing  the  men  off 
the  life  rafts  and  received  a  letter  of  commenda- 
tion from  the  Commander  United  States  Naval 
Forces  in  France.  In  all,  685  Navy  and  Army 
officers  and  enlisted  men  were  rescued.  Four 
naval  officers  and  twenty-three  naval  enlisted 
men  were  counted  missing.  Of  these,  one  officer. 
Lieutenant  E.  V.  M.  Isaacs,  U.  S.  N.,  was  taken 
on  board  the  submarine  and  later  escaped  from 
a  German  prison  camp. 

On  the  first  of  July,  1918,  at  a  quarter  after 
nine  in  the  evening,   the  U.   S,   S.   Covington 


Where  the  destroyer  Jarvis  rammed  the  destroyer  Benham 


The  bow  of  the  Jarvis  after  her  colHsion  with  the  Benham 


1    ft 

HSk^^llJi 

R'  * 

^'        *       9m^ 

1  '•-  'rf  1 

K 

"m 

ii- 

The  side  of  the  Benham  after  being  rammed  by  the  Jarvis 


Bow  of  the  destroyer  Jarvis  after  colHsion  with  the  Benham 


The  Destroyers  95 


which  had  left  Brest  for  the  United  States  on 
the  morning  of  the  same  day,  was  torpedoed  in 
latitude  47°  24'  N.  longitude  7°  44'  W.,  by  a 
submarine  which  was  not  seen  before  or  after  the 
attack.  Prior  to  the  explosion,  however,  the 
wake  of  a  torpedo  was  seen  by  the  executive  of- 
ficer, close  to  the  ship.  When  struck,  the  Cov- 
ington was  zigzagging  in  the  front  line  of  a(i 
eight-ship  convoy,  escorted  by  seven  destroyers. 
The  blow  was  a  quartering  shot,  just  forward  of 
the  engine-room  bulkhead,  in  No.  t;  bunker  on 
the  port  side.  The  bulkhead  was  damaged  and 
the  engine-rooms  and  fire-rooms  were  rapidly 
flooded.  The  ship  took  a  strong  list  to  port,  but 
stayed  afloat  until  3:32  P.M.  of  July  2,  1918, 
when  she  sank  very  rapidly  in  the  final  plunge. 
Immediately  after  the  torpedo  struck,  the  U. 
S.  S.  Smith  opened  a  depth-charge  barrage  and 
circled  the  Covington.  Meanwhile,  as  the  tor- 
pedoed ship  was  helpless  and  liable  to  be  hit 
again,  she  was  abandoned  by  the  officers  and 
crew  in  excellent  order  and  all  the  known  sur- 
vivors were  taken  on  board  the  Smith.  At  day- 
light the  captain  and  officers  and  twenty-two 


96  On  the  Coast  of  France 

men,  together  with  one  officer  and  eight  men  of 
the  U.  S.  S.  Reid,  which  had  arrived  on  the 
scene,  returned  to  the  Covington  to  supervise  sal- 
vage operations.  The  Smith  was  later  joined  by 
the  Wadsworth,  Shaw,  and  Nicholson  and  the 
French  gunboats  Conquerante  and  Engageante. 
At  five  in  the  morning  of  July  2,  1918,  the  Cov- 
ington was  taken  in  tow  by  the  U.  S.  S.  tug  Con- 
cord and  the  British  tugs  Revenger  and  Woonda, 
but  the  gradual  sinking  of  the  ship  finally  made 
progress  impossible  and  after  towing  her  ap- 
proximately twenty-five  miles,  the  ship  was 
abandoned  by  her  salvage  crew  and  sank  in 
twenty  minutes  after  the  last  man  was  taken  off. 
The  Smith,  with  74-^  survivors,  proceeded  to 
Brest;  and  the  Nicholson  with  the  captain  of 
the  Covington  and  the  salvage  crew,  arrived  at 
the  same  port  a  few  hours  later.  Of  the  entire 
crew  of  the  Covington,  only  three  were  unac- 
counted for  and  three  were  drowned.  The  dis- 
cipline and  courage  of  all  of  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  Covington  were  excellent  and  crews 
of  the  fire-room  and  engine-room  on  watch  at 
the  time,  showed  particular  fortitude. 


The  Destroyers  97 


Illustrative  of  the  dangers  of  navigation,  when 
navigating  without  lights  and  in  crowded  waters, 
was  the  collision  of  the  destroyers  Benham  and 
Jarvis.  The  night  was  very  dark  and  there  was 
a  heavy  fog.  Both  vessels  were  making  high 
speed.  Suddenly  the  rudder  of  the  Jarvis 
jammed,  she  sheered  quickly  toward  the  Benham 
and  overrode  her  abreast  of  the  bridge,  tearing  a 
great  hole  in  her  side  extending  half  way 
through  the  wardroom.  The  force  of  the  blow 
tore  away  the  bow  of  the  Jarvis  almost  com- 
pletely. Fortunately,  the  injuries  to  the  Benham 
were  largely  above  wind  and  water  and  the  col- 
lision bulkhead  of  the  Jarvis  held  sufficiently  to 
permit  her  to  follow  the  Benham  to  Brest. 

Many  were  the  instances  of  engagements  be- 
tween destroyers  and  submarines  in  which  the 
final  outcome  remains  unknown.  In  a  large 
number  of  instances,  however,  it  is  highly  prob- 
able to  presume  that  the  submarine  made  a  suc- 
cessful escape;  but  there  were  also  many  times 
when  the  prompt  action  of  the  destroyers  must 
have  proved  fatal  to  the  submarine,  although  no 
tangible  evidence  of  its  fate  appeared. 


98  On  the  Coast  of  France 

In  a  smooth  sea,  with  the  sky  partly  overcast 
and  a  new  moon  low  in  the  sky,  the  destroyer 
Cummings  sighted  what  appeared  to  be  the  wake 
of  a  torpedo  crossing  about  fifty  yards  ahead  of 
her  bow.  The  rudder  was  put  "  hard-left; "  the 
crew  sent  to  "general  quarters"  and  the  Cum- 
mings shot  forward  at  full  speed  and  followed 
the  wake  which  was  very  straight  and  unbroken, 
and  marked  with  a  wake  of  bubbles  when  first 
sighted.  As  the  Cummings  advanced,  dense 
smears  of  oil  were  perceived  on  the  surface, 
terminating  at  a  distance  of  three  hundred  yards 
in  a  large  slick.  A  barrage  of  twenty  depth 
charges  at  ten-second  intervals  was  dropped  and 
the  destroyer  circled  in  the  vicinity  for  half  an 
hour,  but  no  evidence  of  the  submarine  appeared. 

Another  instance  comes  from  the  Benham. 
On  the  morning  of  July  9,  the  junior  officer  of 
the  deck  sighted  a  periscope  on  the  starboard 
bow  of  one  of  the  ships  of  the  convoy.  Steaming 
at  full  speed,  depth  charges  were  dropped  sev- 
eral hundred  yards  before  the  spot  was  reached, 
in  order  to  check  the  submarine  and  prevent  her 
firing  her  torpedoes.    The  destroyer  then  circled 


The  Destroyers  99 

and  dropped  a  barrage  of  depth  charges,  but  no 
wake,  oil  slick,  or  other  disturbances  were  seen 
on  the  water. 

Another  story  of  a  submarine  comes  from  the 
Reid,  which  was  proceeding  with  a  west-bound 
convoy  on  July  17.  The  Nicholson,  which  also 
was  with  the  escort,  was  seen  shelling  an  object 
to  the  northward  and  the  Reid  promptly  pro- 
ceeded toward  the  point  of  fire,  where  what 
appeared  to  be  the  wash  of  a  moving  periscope 
was  visible.  When  about  a  mile  from  the  point 
and  fifteen  hundred  yards  from  the  Nicholson, 
the  Reid  saw  an  object  break  water  on  her  port 
bow  with  a  perceptible  white  wash  and  splash 
and  a  minute  later  the  officers  on  the  bridge 
saw  a  torpedo  headed  in  her  direction  and  to- 
ward the  convoy.  The  Reid  immediately  began 
to  drop  depth  charges  to  deflect,  or  if  possible, 
destroy  the  torpedo,  which  was  proceeding,  at 
times  broaching  bright  in  the  sunlight,  at  a  high 
speed.  After  about  ten  minutes,  a  wake  was 
sighted  and  a  number  of  depth  charges  were 
dropped.  The  depth  charge  next  to  the  last  one 
appeared  to  counter-mine  and  exploded  what 


lOO  On  the  Coast  of  France 

was  thought  at  the  time,  to  be  another  charge 
which  might  have  been  let  go  at  approximately 
the  same  time.  This  second  explosion  was  near 
the  surface  and  caused  a  heavy  dull  shock  and 
concussion  over  a  wide  area.  Later,  it  was  found 
that  two  charges  had  not  been  let  go  simultane- 
ously and  it  was  therefore  presumed  that  the 
dull  shock  was  caused  by  an  explosion  within  the 
submarine. 

The  two  words,  "  suspicious  object,"  appeared 
frequently  in  the  reports  of  the  destroyers,  for 
whenever  a  suspicious  object  was  sighted,  action 
by  the  destroyers  invariably  followed.  During 
one  of  the  summer  months  of  191 8,  the  Mc- 
Dougal  sighted  a  dark  slate-colored  object  like 
a  low  mound,  at  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles. 
She  proceeded  immediately  at  a  speed  of  about 
thirty  knots  toward  the  object,  which  began  to 
move  in  a  northwesterly  direction.  The  crew 
were  sent  to  "general  quarters,"  manning  the 
guns  and  torpedo  tubes,  depth-charge  throwers 
and  releases.  By  this  time  the  object  showed  a 
second  low  hump  about  sixty  feet  to  the  left, 
but  no  periscope,  gun,  or  deck  line  was  visible. 


The  Destroyers  loi 


and  a  few  minutes  later  the  object  disappeared. 
Heading  for  the  spot,  two  depth  charges  were 
dropped  on  a  slight  oil  slick  which  appeared, 
but  there  were  no  other  indications  of  the  pres- 
ence of  a  submarine. 

At  about  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth 
of  October,  while  standing  into  the  harbor  at 
Brest,  a  torpedo  was  sighted  by  the  Bridgeport 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  yards  from 
the  ship,  running  so  close  to  the  surface  that  its 
whole  outline  could  be  seen.  It  was  at  first 
thought  that  the  torpedo  would  strike  the  ship  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  mainmast,  but  it  finally  passed 
clear  of  the  rudder  and  so  close,  that  it  was 
seen  by  a  number  of  people  looking  over  the  fan- 
tail.  Upon  sighting  the  torpedo,  the  speed  of 
the  Bridgeport  was  increased  and  the  rudder 
swung  "hard-left,"  which  prompt  action  un- 
doubtedly saved  the  ship. 

The  Fanning  which  was  escorting  the  Bridge- 
port, immediately  dashed  through  the  convoy  at 
a  speed  of  twenty-two  knots  and  headed  in  the 
direction  from  which  the  torpedo  was  fired, 
searching  for  traces  of  oil.    A  small  patch  of 


I02  On  the  Coast  of  France 


oil  was  finally  discovered  and  six  depth  charges 
were  dropped  at  ten-second  intervals.  On  sight- 
ing some  more  oil  ahead,  the  Fanning  dropped 
a  number  of  additional  depth  charges,  and  then 
perceiving  a  heavy  oil  wake  about  a  thousand 
yards  ahead,  followed  it  at  full  speed.  Ap- 
proaching the  slick,  a  clearly  marked  zigzag  was 
perceptible,  as  if  the  submarine  were  going 
deeper  and  slowing  down.  The  oil  was  heavy 
and  a  strong  oily  smell  was  noticeable.  More 
depth  charges  were  dropped  and  the  search  was 
continued  for  a  number  of  hours  but  no  further 
indications  of  the  presence  of  a  submarine  ap- 
peared. 

It  is  now  believed  that  the  submarine  which 
attacked  the  Bridgeport  was  later  sunk  by  a 
French  patrol  boat  with  a  three-hundred  pound 
American  depth  charge  in  a  position  about  seven 
miles  north  of  He  de  Sein,  in  about  thirty 
fathoms  of  water.  The  patrol  boat  sighted  the 
periscope  of  the  submarine  at  a  considerable  dis- 
tance on  the  bow  and  passing  over  the  spot 
where  the  submarine  submerged,  dropped  depth 
charges.    The  listening  apparatus  established  the 


'  •  •       «     .  • 


Thornycroft  depth-charge  thrower 


The  Destroyers  103 

fact  that  the  submarine  remained  on  the  bottom 
and  additional  depth  charges  which  were  re- 
leased produced  a  heavy  persistent  oil  patch. 
The  patrol  boat  remained  in  the  vicinity  all 
night  and  the  submarine  w^as  not  heard  to  move. 
There  is  another  story  in  the  following  extract 
from  the  diary  of  the  flotilla,  a  simple  statement 
ungarnished  by  details,  of  a  trip  that  is  probably 
not  yet  forgotten  by  those  who  participated  in  its 
stormy  adventures: 

The  Roe,  Monagkan,  and  Warrington  returned  from  danger  zone 
escort  duty  with  troop  and  store  ships,  having  weathered  the  gale 
of  the  past  few  days.  The  Monaghan  lost  her  foremast  and  the 
Roe  her  mainmast.  Both  vessels  lost  boats.  The  Warrington  lost 
her  liferafts. 

Such  was  the  weather  off  Finistere  on  the  nine- 
teenth of  December,  1917. 

The  story  of  American  naval  activities  in 
French  waters  is  relatively  free  from  those  dis- 
asters which  seem  an  almost  certain  part  of  any 
great  activity,  and  the  single  grave  disaster,  the 
burning  of  the  Florence  H.  gives  emphasis  to 
our  great  good  fortune  in  this  respect,  in  spite 
of  the  constant  dangers,  other  than  those  of  the 
submarine,  to  which  our  ships  were  constantly 


I04  On  the  Coast  of  France 

subjected  while  in  port;  dangers  due  primarily 
to  the  vast  quantities  of  high  explosives  and  in- 
flammable stores  with  which  they  were  loaded. 
The  Florence  H.  was  anchored  in  convoy  at 
Quiberon  Bay  on  the  seventeenth  of  April,  1918. 
At  a  quarter  to  eleven  in  the  evening,  a  violent 
explosion  on  board  wrecked  the  vessel.  The 
cause  has  never  been  determined,  but  as  she  was 
loaded  with  powder  and  there  is  little  likelihood 
that  a  submarine  could  have  penetrated  into 
Quiberon  Bay  it  seems  plausible  that  the  ex- 
plosion was  internal. 

The  Florence  H.  had  been  at  anchor  about 
half  an  hour  when  the  explosion  occurred.  At 
the  moment  of  the  disaster  the  destroyer  Stewart 
was  passing  at  high  speed.  From  the  descrip- 
tion later  made  by  the  Stewart's  commanding  of- 
ficer, the  Florence  H.  burst  suddenly  into  flame, 
like  a  flare  of  flashlight  powder.  At  intervals 
the  flame  died  down  sufficiently  to  permit  the 
outline  of  the  ship  to  be  clearly  visible,  then  sud- 
denly, the  incandescent  glare  increased  again 
until  nothing  could  be  seen  but  a  mass  of  flame 
rising  from  the  water.    In  about  five  minutes  the 


The  Destroyers  105 


forward  part  of  the  ship  began  to  break  up  aod 
at  rapid  intervals  loud  explosions  of  ammunition 
occurred.  Then  the  sides  of  the  vessel  fell  out- 
ward and  the  surrounding  water  was  strewn  with 
burning  boxes  of  powder.  The  Stewart  turned 
from  her  course  and  headed  in  toward  the  after 
section  of  the  Florence  H.  which  had  still  held 
together,  with  the  hope  of  rescuing  the  survivors 
of  the  crew.  In  addition  to  the  Stewart,  the  de- 
stroyers Whipple  and  Truxton  and  the  yachts 
Wanderer,  Christahel,  Sultana,  Emeline,  Co- 
rona, and  Rambler,  aided  in  the  rescue;  and 
gallant  work  was  performed  by  the  rescuing 
parties  who  proceeded  in  small  boats  from  the 
various  ships  as  close  as  possible  to  the  burn- 
ing ship.  Of  seventy-five  people  on  board  the 
Florence  H.  at  the  time,  thirty-four  were  res- 
cued, although  many  of  the  survivors  were 
severely  burned. 

In  a  very  few  minutes  after  the  fire  had  broken 
out,  great  masses  of  burning  wreckage  spread 
over  the  sea  to  the  leeward  and  burst  into  sud- 
den flame  as  the  ammunition  and  powder  cases 
exploded,   shooting   long  tongues   of   fire   and 


io6  On  the  Coast  of  France 

bursts  of  gasses  into  tHe  air  with  a  roar  which 
rose  above  the  sound  of  the  burning  ship.  But 
the  rescue  parties  from  the  various  ships  pushed 
fearlessly  into  the  burning  mass  of  wreckage, 
ignoring  the  powder  cases  which  were  constantly 
exploding  around  them,  and  by  their  prompt 
work  were  responsible  for  the  saving  of  the  sur- 
vivors. 

On  May  3,  Vice-Admiral  Moreau,  prefet 
maritime  of  Brest,  boarded  the  U.  S.  S.  Stewart 
and  with  the  crew  drawn  up  for  muster  pinned 
on  Lieutenant  H.  S.  Haislip,  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  Stewart  the  croix  de  guerre  for  his 
splendid  work  in  rescuing  the  survivors  of  the 
S.  S.  Florence  H.  under  very  dangerous  circum- 
stances at  the  time  of  her  destruction.  Admiral 
Moreau  then  addressed  the  ship's  company  and 
complimented  them  in  the  warmest  terms  on  the 
fine  work  which  they  had  accomplished. 

And  on  September  26,  1918,  a  second  interest- 
ing ceremony  took  place  on  board  the  Stewart, 
in  the  harbor  of  Brest,  when  Frank  Upton,  quar- 
termaster, third  class,  U.  S.  N.  and  Jesse  W. 
Covington,  ships  cook,  third  class,  U.  S.  N.,  were 


The  Destroyers  107 


decorated  with  the  Congressional  Medal  of 
Honor  for  their  heroic  action  in  jumping  over- 
board and  saving  the  wounded  from  the  Flor- 
ence H.  at  the  time  of  her  explosion  and  destruc- 
tion by  fire.  In  presenting  these  medals,  the 
Commander  United  States  Naval  Forces  in 
France,  said  in  part: 

While  the  department  has  designated  these  two  men,  the  honors 
were  not  limited  to  these;  for  the  whole  ship's  company,  with  their 
ship,  have  all  consistently  distinguished  themselves. 


CHAPTER  VI 

OTHER  ACTIVITIES 

THE  chief  work  of  the  Navy  in  France  was 
naturally  to  patrol  the  sea  and  to  wage  an 
anti-submarine  warfare;  but  there  were  also 
other  activities  of  the  naval  forces  which  should 
be  included  in  an  account  of  its  work  abroad 
during  the  war.  Books  could,  and  doubtless  will 
be  written  covering  fully  these  activities,  and  it 
is  with  reluctance  that  only  such  brief  mention 
can  be  given  here.  But  at  least  this  slight  nar- 
rative may  give  some  intimation  of  the  con- 
stant dangers  and  hardships  in  which  the  officers 
and  enlisted  men  of  our  naval  forces  in  France 
participated. 

For  centuries  the  surface  of  the  sea  has  alone 
afforded  the  setting  for  naval  activities ;  but  with 
the  entrance  of  the  hydroplane  and  the  dirigible 
balloon  into  modern  warfare  strange  tales  of  new 

io8 


Other  Activities  1 09 

adventures  and  achievements  in  another  element 
have  been  written  into  the  annals  of  the  sea. 

But  as  the  purpose  of  this  narrative  is  to  deal 
primarily  with  the  activities  of  the  men  who 
went  down  to  the  sea  in  ships,  and  as  by  the  close 
of  the  war  the  naval  air  establishment  had 
reached  a  size  and  scope  which  would  require  an 
entire  volume  adequately  to  describe,  it  seems 
advisable  to  give  here  only  a  brief  resume  of  this 
important  work  and  a  few  graphic  instances  of 
naval  cooperation  on  the  sea  and  in  the  air. 

The  aviation  forces  of  the  United  States  Navy 
in  France  made  its  first  establishment  on  the 
French  coast  under  the  general  command  of  the 
Commander  United  States  Naval  Forces  in 
France,  with  Captain  Hutch  I.  Cone  in  imme- 
diate command.  Organized  originally  to  com- 
prise three  air  stations  situated  at  Dunkirk  and 
at  the  entrances  to  the  rivers  Loire  and  Gironde, 
the  number  was  constantly  increased  until  at  the 
close  of  the  war  a  continuous  fringe  of  United 
States  and  French  naval  air  stations  for  hydro- 
planes and  dirigibles  lined  the  coast  from  Dun- 
kirk to  the  Spanish  boundary.    Due  to  the  fact 


I  lo  On  the  Coast  of  France 

that  the  French  aviators  and  planes  were  in  a 
large  measure  withdrawn  from  the  coastal  work 
in  the  earlier  months  of  the  war  for  land  service 
on  the  German  lines,  the  arrival  of  the  American 
forces  afforded  an  invaluable  and  greatly  to  be 
desired  assistance  at  a  time  when  the  im- 
measurably increased  coastal  and  deep-sea  traffic 
due  to  the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
war  created  a  proportionate  increase  of  subma- 
rine activity. 

By  the  close  of  the  war  the  entire  coast  was 
included  in  a  comparatively  complete  system  of 
air  patrols,  and  plans  were  nearing  completion 
for  a  series  of  fifty  American  and  French  stations 
to  control  intensively  the  entire  seacoast. 

At  the  beginning,  the  work  of  the  American 
forces  was  purely  of  reconnaissance,  and  the  con- 
voy patrols  were  carried  on  entirely  by  the 
French  avions  from  their  bases  at  the  larger 
ports.  Later,  a  proportion  of  the  convoy  work 
was  undertaken  by  the  American  aviators  and 
three  kite-balloon  stations  were  established  at 
Brest,  Lorient,  and  La  Trinite. 

The  value  of  the  hydroplane  and  the  dirigible 


Destroyers  alongside  the  Bridgeport  at  Brest 


Another  view  of  the  destroyers  showing  camouflage 


:,  .k^^ 

V 

^mPM 

Other  Activities  in 

in  naval  warfare  cannot  be  overestimated.  Pos- 
sessing a  high  speed,  a  wide  range  of  operation, 
a  relative  safety  from  attack  and  operating  at 
an  altitude  from  which  observation  over  a  vast 
area  is  possible,  the  aviator  is  now  able  to  direct 
the  movements  of  fleets  and  guide  their  opera- 
tions against  an  enemy  invisible  from  the  level 
of  the  sea.  As  the  swift  frigate  was  to  Nelson 
and  the  cruiser  to  Togo,  so  to  the  admirals  of  the 
present  war  the  hydroplane  has  made  possible  a 
knowledge  of  enemy  operations  far  in  advance 
of  the  actual  contact,  and  as  sea  power  in  past 
ages  has  been  the  key  to  national  security,  so  in 
the  future  years  must  sea  power  be  assured  by 
air  supremacy. 

As  an  enemy  of  the  submarine  the  sky  frigates 
have,  in  the  war  immediately  past,  proved  of 
the  greatest  value,  for  from  the  plane  of  their 
operations  it  was  possible  to  scan  a  wide  tract 
of  sea,  and  even  in  the  depths  of  the  water  to  de- 
tect the  presence  of  the  submerged  submarine. 
Armed  with  bombs  and  machine  guns  they  were 
not  limited  to  the  work  of  scouting,  but  under 
varied  circumstances  in  a  large  number  of  in- 


112  On  the  Coast  of  France 

stances  gave  battle  to  the  enemy  and  rendered  an 
invaluable  service. 

The  comprehensive  operations  of  the  United 
States  Naval  Air  Force  in  France  required  an 
amount  of  construction  which  had  only  reached 
completion  shortly  before  the  termination  of  hos- 
tilities. Had  the  war  continued  for  even  a  few 
months  longer  this  branch  of  the  service  would 
have  played  an  enormously  greater  part  in  the 
conflict  with  the  submarine.  As  it  was,  the  serv- 
ice rendered  was  of  a  vital  nature  and  the  entire 
organization  is  entitled  to  much  commendation 
for  the  work  actually  done  and  the  compre- 
hensive plan  which  was  brought  so  nearly  into 
full  operation. 

The  following  instances  have  been  selected  as 
characteristic  of  the  work  performed  by  the 
aviation  forces  in  conjunction  with  the  Navy  on 
the  French  coast. 

On  the  twenty-ninth  of  October,  19 17,  a  hydro- 
plane on  patrol  duty  with  a  convoy  departing 
from  La  Palice,  sighted  the  American  steamship 
Alma  proceeding  along  in  the  direction  of 
Rochebonne.    Flying  over  the  ship,  the  aviators 


Other  Activities  1 13 

saw  at  a  considerable  distance  the  wake  of  a 
submarine  approaching  the  Alma.  Passing  over 
the  wake,  the  aviators  dropped  two  bombs,  which 
fell  near  the  wake,  and  a  third  which  apparently 
struck  in  close  proximity  to  the  submarine.  The 
submarine  realizing  the  danger  of  its  situation 
promptly  dived  and  disappeared. 

On  another  day  of  the  same  month  two  hydro- 
planes left  Camaret  on  a  scouting  trip.  Shortly 
after  passing  Ouessant,  about  twenty-five  miles 
from  He  Verge,  they  picked  up  the  wake  of  a 
submarine.  Heading  for  it,  they  perceived  the 
outline  of  the  submarine  bedow  the  surface, 
apparently  headed  in  the  general  direction  of 
several  sailing  ships.  The  afternoon  was  late, 
it  was  growing  dark  and  a  strong  breeze  was 
blowing.  The  two  hydroplanes  passed  over  the 
submarine  and  as  they  saw  the  periscope  each 
dropped  a  bomb.  The  first  bomb  fell  near  the 
mark  and  the  second  struck  the  superstructure 
of  the  submarine.  Passing  over  the  mark  again, 
each  hydroplane  dropped  a  second  bomb.  The 
submarine  now  disappeared  giving  off  quantities 
of  oil  that  rapidly  spread  over  the  surface  of  the 


114  On  the  Coast  of  France 

sea.  Then  the  periscope  suddenly  shot  forth  and 
again  disappeared  and  a  heavy  list  was  discern- 
ible in  the  submarine.  Seeing  that  their  work 
was  accomplished,  the  hydroplanes  warned  the 
patrols  escorting  the  convoy  and  returned  to 
their  base. 

The  dangers  and  hardships  of  the  air  service 
find  a  good  example  in  the  experience  of  two 
hydroplanes  which  put  out  from  Treguier  for 
patrol  duty  off  He  de  Batz.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon motor  trouble  developed  in  one  of  the 
hydroplanes  and  it  was  forced  to  light  about 
eight  miles  west  of  Treguier.  The  other  ma- 
chine descended  slowly  and  threw  a  message 
buoy  to  a  fishing  boat  which  was  standing  in 
the  vicinity.  The  buoy  was  picked  up  but  the 
message  had  become  detached.  The  first  hydro- 
plane then  released  its  carrier  pigeons,  but  it 
was  found  later  that  these  for  some  reason  failed 
to  arrive  at  their  coop.  The  other  machine  then 
returned  to  Treguier  for  help,  and  several  patrol 
boats  went  out  and  searched  all  night  and  during 
the  following  morning  for  the  missing  hydro- 
plane.   Finally  at  the  end  of  twenty-six  hours  the 


Other  Activities  1 15 


two  occupants  of  the  hydroplane  were  picked  up 
by  the  French  destroyer  Durandol,  floating  help- 
lessly in  a  rough  sea.  The  machine  was  taken 
in  tow  but  the  line  parted  and  it  sank  before  a 
new  line  could  be  passed. 

The  following  report  of  an  attack  on  a  sub- 
marine is  characteristic  of  a  number  of  similar 
engagements,  and  is  quoted  in  the  aviator's  own 
words  from  his  report. 


On  Tuesday  morning,  April  23,  1918,  at  10:33,  hydroavions 
No.  25  with  Pilot  R.  H.  Harrell  and  Observer  H.  W.  Studer  and 
No.  22  with  Pilot-Ensign  K.  R.  Smith  and  Observer  G.  E.  Williams, 
left  station  He  Tudy  for  the  purpose  of  convoying  and  to  search 
for  hydroavion  No.  26  which  was  forced  to  land  on  account  of 
motor  trouble,  the  incident  of  No.  26  having  been  reported  on 
return  of  No.  23,  which  two  had  been  out  on  previous  patrol  and 
convoy. 

Leaving  station,  steered  zigzag  course  toward  Pte.  de  Penmarch. 
At  10:58  A.M.  sighted  No.  26,  three  miles  west  of  Pte.  de  Penmarch 
tied  astern  of  two-mast  fishing  smack.  We  circled  over  them  to 
ascertain  if  all  was  well.  On  finding  them  resting  comfortably, 
steered  a  course  to  the  south  along  the  shore  to  inform  the  motor- 
boat  crew  which  was  sent  out  from  station  to  tow  them  in.  Upon 
reaching  the  boat,  dropped  them  a  correspondence  buoy,  giving 
them  the  location  of  No.  26  and  informing  them  to  follow  us  to  her 
position.  Resuming  course  toward  Pte.  de  Penmarch,  circled  over 
No.  26  and  signaled  all  was  well. 

Made  contact  with  south-bound  convoy  of  twenty  ships  at  11:30 
A.M.  six  miles  northwest  of  Pte.  de  Penmarch.  Continued  flight 
towards  northwest  off  starboard  side  of  convoy,  arriving  at  position 
oflF  end  of  last  ship,  circled  to  the  southwest,  remaining  on  starboard 
side  of  ships. 

At  11:43  A.M.  observed  an  object  on  the  surface  of  water, 
bearing  280*    off  Pte.    de   Penmarch   light   and   about   eight  milei 


Ii6  On  the  Coast  of  France 


from  shore.  Made  signals  to  my  pilot  to  steer  for  that  point  and 
arriving  over  the  object  made  a  closer  observation.  Observed 
water  disturbance,  bubbles,  oily  surface  and  small  wash  of  sea 
growth.  Ensign  K.  R.  Smith,  my  pilot,  instructed  me  to  arm  the 
bombs  and  bomb  the  spot.  We  then  made  a  short  circle  over  the 
position,  raising  from  seventy-five  meters  to  two  hundred.  The 
bombs  were  armed  and  everything  made  ready  for  bombing,  and 
upon  coming  over  the  location  again  observed  a  dark  object  and 
apparently  more  oil. 

The  first  bomb  was  dropped  at  11:50  a.m.  The  results  were 
highly  satisfactory,  both  in  placing  the  shot  and  the  bomb's  effective- 
ness—  hitting  the  exact  spot  of  disturbance  and  color.  We  then 
circled  for  another  shot  which  was  dropped  at  11:52  and  hitting 
ten  feet  farther  westward  than  the  previous  shot. 

During  the  bombing  period  No.  25  was  circling  the  same  posi- 
tion and  guarding  our  movements.  The  observer  in  plane  No.  25 
showed  his  presence  of  mind  in  dropping  a  phosphorus  buoy  marker, 
thereby  marking  the  exact  location  and  giving  notice  of  position  to 
an  American  destroyer,  which  was  steaming  to  our  position  at  full 
steam. 

We  flew  towards  the  American  destroyer  dropping  a  correspond- 
ence buoy  of  our  action.  The  destroyer  steamed  ahead  to  the 
bombing  position  and  upon  arriving  over  the  spot  let  go  three  depth 
charges.  At  this  juncture  a  French  gunboat  arrived  at  scene  of 
encounter,  standing  with  all  guns  manned  and  searching  for  what 
would  appear  of  an  enemy  submarine. 

We  continued  circling  our  position  over  spot,  observing  the 
results  of  the  bombs,  seeing  nothing  but  small  particles  of  what 
appeared  to  be  cork,  much  sea  growth,  and  oil.  Left  scene  of  action 
at  12:30  P.M.  and  continued  a  course  to  the  south. 

At  12:35  again  made  contact  with  convoy  which  had  arrived 
twelve  miles  southwest  of  Pte.  de  Penmarch  and  were  passing  a 
second  convoy  of  sixteen  ships  bound  north. 

At  12:36  hydroavion  No.  25  flew  signal  of  motor  trouble  and  both 
headed  for  station,  arriving  at  12:48.  The  conditions  were: 
Weather,  hazy;  sea,  heavy  ground  swells;  visibility  of  air,  poor; 
visibility  of  water,  good.  The  duration  of  flight  was  two  hours 
and   fifteen  minutes. 

The  use  of  kite  balloons  for  observation  pur- 
poses proved  of  great  practical  value  in  con- 


Other  Activities  II7 

junction  with  the  destroyers,  but  this  means  of 
observation  was  not  adopted  until  the  closing 
months  of  the  war.  Early  in  August,  19 18,  a 
trial  trip  with  a  kite  balloon  was  made  by  the 
Cushing.  Extremely  rough  weather,  a  number 
of  minor  defects  (partly  due  to  the  new  appa- 
ratus) ,  the  inexperience  of  the  crew,  and  the  sea- 
sickness of  the  balloon  personnel,  rendered  the 
experiment  in  some  respects  unsatisfactory.  The 
balloon  behaved  perfectly,  however,  except  at 
one  time  when  it  became  considerably  deflated, 
and,  due  to  its  violent  plunging  in  the  high  wind, 
could  not  be  gassed.  On  this  occasion  the  ob- 
server was  obliged  to  dive  overboard  out  of  the 
basket  as  the  only  possible  way  by  which  he  could 
reach  the  destroyer. 

The  report  of  operations  with  a  kite  balloon 
on  the  Ericsson  the  latter  part  of  August  gives 
the  information  that  the  smoke  of  an  approach- 
ing convoy  was  detected  at  a  distance  of  forty 
miles  and  again,  at  the  same  distance,  a  passing 
convoy  was  detected.  The  flying  height  was 
from  640  to  660  feet. 

Although   the   bluejacket   is   naturally   asso- 


Ii8  On  the  Coast  of  France 

ciated  primarily  with  the  sea,  almost  every  war 
has  contained  memorable  instances  of  the  action 
of  seamen  in  land  operations,  and  in  our  naval 
operations  in  France  the  brief  but  important 
work  of  the  United  States  naval  railway  batteries 
proved  that  even  in  modern  warfare  the  am- 
phibious nature  of  the  Navy  has  not  declined. 

Early  in  1918  it  was  determined  to  provide  a 
number  of  guns  of  large  caliber  mounted  on  rail- 
way carriages  to  work  in  conjunction  with  our 
land  forces.  The  long  familiarity  of  the  Navy 
with  guns  of  this  nature  resulted  in  the  prompt 
decision  to  operate  the  batteries,  officered  by 
naval  officers  and  manned  by  bluejackets,  as 
naval  units. 

Each  battery  consisted  of  one  fourteen-inch 
fifty-calibex  naval  gun  weighing  approximately 
178,000  pounds,  mounted  on  a  railway  carriage 
and  accompanied  by  a  complete  train  for  its 
operation  and  supply,  consisting  of  a  locomotive, 
tender,  fourteen-inch  ammunition  car,  anti-air- 
craft car,  anti-aircraft  ammunition  car,  battery 
headquarters  kitchen  car,  staff  headquarters  and 
dispensing  car,  berthing  car,  staff  radio  car,  fuel 


Other  Activities  119 

car  and  staff  quarters  car.  The  expedition  was 
also  accompanied  by  a  construction  car  with  a 
heavy  crane,  a  wrecking  car,  a  staff  officers  car, 
a  spare  parts  car  and  a  number  of  freight  and 
flat  cars.  The  command  of  the  expedition  was 
placed  with  Captain  (later  Rear- Admiral)  C.  P. 
Plunkett,  U.  S.  N.,  and  Commander  G.  L. 
Schuyler,  U.  S.  N.,  second  in  command  and  gun- 
nery officer. 

The  construction  of  the  trains  was  undertaken 
by  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  at  Phila- 
delphia, and  a  number  of  specially  trained  me- 
chanics from  this  plant  were  enlisted  in  the  Navy 
and  accompanied  the  expedition. 

Early  in  August  the  guns  and  equipment  be- 
gan to  arrive  at  Saint-Nazaire,  and  on  the  eight- 
eenth of  the  month  the  first  complete  one-gun 
battery  was  ready  to  leave  for  the  Front.  No. 
2  battery  was  assembled  and  ready  a  short  time 
later,  and  by  the  latter  part  of  September  bat- 
teries Nos.  3,  4,  and  ^  were  ready  for  the  field. 

There  had  been  considerable  speculation  re- 
garding the  possible  effect  on  the  railroad  tracks 
and  bridges  due  to  the  enormous  weight  of  the 


I20  On  the  Coast  of  France 

trains  but  no  damage  occurred,  and  the  trains 
proceeding  at  a  reasonable  speed  arrived  at  their 
destination  without  incident. 

The  honor  of  the  first  shot  came  to  battery  No. 
2  which  opened  on  a  large  enemy  ammunition 
dump  near  Fontenoy  on  September  14.  For  a 
number  of  weeks,  batteries  i  and  2,  operating 
under  the  control  of  the  commanding  general  of 
the  first  French  Army,  were  employed  in  the 
vicinity  of  Soissons  and  fired  chiefly  on  Laon, 
and  at  Mortiers  near  Saint-Quentin.  The  range 
of  these  guns  being  approximately  fifty  thousand 
yards,  it  was  possible  to  spread  destruction  far 
inside  the  enemy  lines,  and  to  increase  their 
effectiveness  they  were  at  all  times  placed  in  very 
advanced  positions  which  brought  them  under 
more  or  less  continuous  fire. 

The  reports  of  battery  No.  i  mention  that  on 
one  occasion  a  six-inch  German  shell  exploded 
within  twelve  feet  of  the  gun,  but  slight  damage 
was  done,  and  the  matter  was  officially  dismissed 
with  the  remark  that  the  enemy  shell  "pep- 
pered'* the  battery.  In  reply  to  this  "hit"  the 
battery  shortly  after  dropped  a  shell  into  a  Ger- 


THE    FLAG    THAT    FLEW 


Other  Activities  12 1 

man  troop  cinema  creating  over  one  hundred 
casualties. 

Early  in  October  Nos.  3,  4,  and  ^  took  up  a 
position  at  Thierville,  in  the  Verdun  Sector,  and 
they  were  later  joined  in  the  same  general  vicin- 
ity by  Nos.  I  and  2,  where  fire  was  maintained 
on  Montmedy,  Mengiennes,  Benestroff  and  Sar- 
rebourg. 

On  October  27  an  enemy  shell  exploded  in  the 
vicinity  of  battery  No.  5,  wounding  five  men, 
one  of  whom  later  died  of  his  wounds.  Due  to 
their  advanced  position  which  brought  them 
under  constant  fire  of  both  the  long-range  and 
smaller  caliber  guns  of  the  enemy,  it  is  remark- 
able that  the  casualties  were  relatively  few,  and 
especially  as  the  night  firing  exposed  the  men 
constantly  to  the  enemy^s  observation. 

A  most  valuable  service  was  given  by  the  bat- 
teries, and  had  the  war  continued  they  were  des- 
tined for  a  part  which  would  have  been  of  the 
utmost  importance.  All  the  materiel  withstood 
the  constant  firing  effectively  and  the  highest 
commendation  was  received  by  the  officers  and 
men  for  their  skill  in  operating  the  guns. 


122  On  the  Coast  of  France 

Mine-sweeping  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  dan- 
gerous and  most  disagreeable  services  rendered 
by  the  naval  forces  in  modern  warfare.  The  ex- 
periences of  the  little  group  of  United  States 
mine-sweepers  at  Lorient  was  no  exception.  It 
will  be  recalled  that  the  fleet  of  United  States 
mine-sweepers  in  French  waters  consisted  of 
nine  small  vessels  which  were  originally  sent 
over  for  patrol  service,  but  being  speedily  con- 
demned for  this  work,  due  to  their  unsuitable 
construction,  were  later  converted  for  mine- 
sweeping. 

In  this  department  the  French  Naval  Forces 
were  particularly  active,  the  Tossizza  scissors 
apparatus,  a  French  invention  by  which  mines 
caught  by  the  sweeping  gear  were  released  and 
allowed  to  rise  to  the  surface  where  they  might 
be  destroyed  by  gunfire,  having  proved  highly 
effective.  So  valuable,  in  fact,  was  this  contribu- 
tion to  anti-mine  work  that  it  was  adopted  by 
the  British  Navy  for  their  own  extensive  opera- 
tions. 

The  United  States  mine-sweepers  concentrated 


Other  Activities  123 

their  operations  at  Lorient,  and  there  worked  in 
conjunction  with  the  French  in  keeping  free  the 
channels  and  in  destroying  enemy  mine  fields 
in  the  vicinity  reported  by  ships  or  hydroplanes. 

The  German  mines  were  laid,  by  necessity,  en- 
tirely by  submarines,  and  only  the  constant,  un- 
tiring, daily  sweeping  of  the  channels  could 
assure  the  safety  of  the  shipping  passing  through 
them.  These  mines,  of  various  types  as  the  war 
progressed,  were  in  the  large  part  anchored  at  a 
depth  of  about  fifteen  feet,  on  high  tide,  beneath 
the  surface,  to  be  exploded  by  the  sides  of  the 
passing  vessel  which,  coming  in  contact  with  the 
protruding  horns  detonated  the  mine. 

The  French  mine-sweepers  were  built  for  this 
particular  duty  and  were  a  light-draft  type  of 
vessel  capable  of  proceeding  with  relative  safety 
over  an  existing  mine  field  without  striking  the 
submerged  mines.  The  American  sweepers,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  a  converted  craft  and  of  a 
draft  which  permitted  their  use  for  only  a  couple 
of  hours  on  the  flood  tide.  At  these  times  they 
could  pass  safely  over  the  mines,  but  at  lower 
water  there  would  have  been  considerable  dan- 


124  On  the  Coast  of  France 

ger  of  striking  and  detonating  the  mines  encoun- 
tered. In  this  work  a  number  of  sweepers 
worked  together  advancing  over  a  supposed  field 
dragging  their  sweeping  gear  astern.  As  the 
wire  cables  which  comprised  the  sweeps  caught 
on  the  anchoring  cable  of  a  mine,  the  scissors 
either  cut  loose  the  mine  or  the  mine  was  torn 
loose  from  its  anchorage  and  rose  to  the  surface, 
when  it  was  promptly  exploded  by  gunfire. 
•  In  the  earlier  years  of  the  war  a  type  of  mine 
was  employed  by  the  German  mine  layers  which 
could  be  "  dehorned,"  and  after  being  thus  ren- 
dered innocuous,  could  be  examined.  Later, 
however,  the  mines  were  so  constructed  that  an 
attempt  to  dehorn  them  resulted  in  their  explo- 
sion and  the  annihilation  of  several  detachments 
of  enterprising  French  sailors. 

The  hazardous  nature  of  this  work,  its  mo- 
notony and  the  discomforts  of  the  vessels  made 
the  duties  of  the  mine-sweepers  far  from  en- 
viable and  much  credit  should  be  given  to  the 
men  who  uncomplainingly  gave  themselves  to 
this  branch  of  the  service. 

The  value  of  this  service  is  indicated  by  the 


Other  Activities  125 

following  letter  from  the  prefet  maritime  of  the 
third  arrondissement,  Vice-Admiral  Aubrey,  to 
the  district  commander  at  Lorient. 


The  C.  D.  P.  L.  has  recently  informed  me  how  much  he  appre- 
ciates the  services  of  the  United  States  mine-sweepers  in  the  daily 
sweep  and  the  destruction  of  enemy  mines.  He  has  spoken  in  par-' 
ticular,  of  the  zeal  which  these  sweepers  showed  the  second  week 
of  July,  when  in  conjunction  with  the  French,  they  cleared  the  mine 
field  Guerandc  shoal.  This  successful  operation  was  carried  out  in 
bad  weather  under  very  arduous  and  dangerous  conditions. 

I  wish  to  express  to  you  my  sincere  gratitude  and  will  ask  that 
you  kindly  convey  my  thanks  and  appreciation  to  the  officers  and 
crews  of  the  Hinton  and  Cahill  and  most  particularly  to  the  James, 
which  alone  sank  four  mines. 


On  a  gray  afternoon  early  in  November  the 
sound  of  cheering  greeted  the  destroyer  Roe  as 
she  slid  out  from  her  moorings  and  turned  slowly 
toward  the  opening  in  the  breakwater.  From 
her  slender  mainmasts  a  hundred-foot  pennant,  a 
single  row  of  stars  in  its  blue  field  and  two  long 
stripes  of  red  and  white  beyond,  curved  and 
floated  in  the  breeze.  It  was  "  homeward  bound." 
As  the  Roe  stood  out  of  the  harbor  cheers  from 
every  vessel  gave  her  a  Godspeed  as  she  passed. 
From  destroyer  decks  groups  of  men  with  home 
longing  in  their  eyes  watched  her  steam  on  to- 
ward the  outgoing  convoy.    A  destroyer  signaled 


126  On  the  Coast  of  France 

"Give  our  regards  to  Broadway,"  and  "Good 
Luck,  may  you  follow  soon"  came  back  from 
the  fluttering  semaphore  on  her  signal  bridge. 
She  was  the  first  to  leave  from  France,  and  al- 
though the  armistice  was  declared  but  a  week 
later,  there  were  few  who  watched  her  departure 
on  that  gloomy  afternoon,  who  dared  to  hope 
that  the  end  of  actual  hostilities  was  so  near  at 
hand. 

A  week  later  the  harbor  was  glittering  in  sun- 
shine. It  was  noon  and  the  crews  of  the  hundred- 
odd  vessels  in  the  great  harbor  of  Brest  were 
knocking  off  their  work  for  dinner.  Suddenly 
from  the  shore  battery  beside  the  ancient  fortress 
a  puff  of  white  smoke  was  followed  by  the  dull 
boom  of  a  gun;  another  followed,  another,  and 
then  another.  The  heavy  voices  of  the  guns  were 
augmented  by  a  high-pitched  whistle  from  a 
great  French  cruiser,  and  an  enormous  tricolor 
broke  out  suddenly  against  the  blue  of  the  sky. 
Other  guns  took  up  the  challenge;  deep-voiced 
whistles  and  wailing,  shrieking  sirens.  The  ar- 
mistice was  signed !  On  every  ship  men  crowded 
the  decks  and  cheered  madly.    Great  flags,  the 


Other  Activities  127 

unconquered  emblem  of  America,  broke  out  on 
the  breeze.  The  hostilities  were  ended.  It  was 
over,  *' Over  There." 


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